It's in the Blood
by sarhea
Summary: What if youkais knew something humans didn't? What if they knew the key to a solid relationship was in the blood? COMPLETE : SessKag KagSess
1. In The Beginning

NOTE: Definitely AU. Some episode spoilers. Sango has joined the group. They've met Rin, Sesshoumaru's ward. Things are tense between InuYasha and Sesshoumaru. Naraku is still on the loose.  
  
NOTE: I've used japanese and english terms intermittantly. I'll probably post a glossary or reedit the file some point in the future but right now I'm impatient to get the fic up for reviews so enjoy!!  
  
AN: A Prologue, of sorts.  
  
===================================================================  
  
~*~ In the Beginning ~*~  
  
"Are you all right?" Sango asked the time-travelling miko with some concern. Of their group Kagome was the most vulnerable despite her miko powers; she was gentle and wanted everyone to be happy and safe; an unlikely wish to be fulfilled in the Feudal Era.  
  
Kagome Hiragushi smiled brightly. "I'm fine Sango," the teen reassured the taijiki. "I just want to make sure everyone is okay."  
  
Sango nodded. "I know what you mean. I still can't understand it, why on earth did the Great Western Lord deign to protect a village of lowly ningen?" She spoke sardonically. Sango had little good experience with demons. Her village had been destroyed by youkai sent by Naraku. She and her fellow taijiki, including her father and younger brother had been attacked by a spider-youkai controlled by Naraku. Sango had survived the attack but her brother Kohaku had been badly injured and was now a puppet kept alive by Shikon shards and controlled by Naraku. It was Sango's dearest wish to avenge her fallen friends and free her brother.  
  
Kagome's hand shook as she remembered. Somehow a praying mantis youkai found out InuYasha was vulnerable, that he turned human, during new moons. The youkai formed a hunting party and attacked the village where the group was spending a few days resting from their search for the Shikon shards. What they didn't know was that InuYasha preferred to spend new moons away from the group. Sometimes Kagome couldn't understand the hanyou's actions; he had wanted the Shikon to become human for Kikyo, but here he was almost ashamed of being human.  
  
Miroku, Kagome, Sango and Kirara had fought hardest but there were far too many youkai. Everyone in the village would have been killed if it hadn't been for Sesshoumaru. He had unexpectedly shown up and destroyed the attacking youkai and had been badly injured in the process.  
  
Good manners, common sense, and compassion told Kagome she should do what she could to make the tai-youkai feel better and recover faster. He had been injured in defense of her friends after all. Kagome ground down the instinctive desire to run and hide in favour of doing what she 'knew' was right: helping the wounded.  
  
Easy enough for a twentieth century teenager who had taken first aid courses and CPR training when she started spending more and more time to the past. At first her mother pressured her to take a first aid kit and Kagome soon found it was inadequate to look after humans injured in the aftermath of youkai attacks. Guilt pressured her into signing up for classes at local community centers – to help the poor who followed superstitious folklore remedies when they couldn't afford the quack treatments of learned physicians. Later on she expanded on her knowledge talking to clinic nurses and botanists about traditional pharmacopoeia in her own time. What they taught made her far more competent than any Feudal Era doctor.  
  
She spent a few minutes doing a quick triage of the wounded grouping them into degrees of severity and pain before handing out painkillers, alcohol swabs and antibiotic cream. The resident midwife, herbalist and miko marveled over the items and promised to follow her instructions, to use boiled water and boiled bandages, diligently. After making sure the villagers were looked after she turned to the one patient she was reluctant to face, the one avoided by everyone: Sesshoumaru.  
  
The Western Lord was tolerating the fussing of his hyper-active retainer, Jaken, and the barely restrained sniffing of the human girl that accompanied him, Rin.  
  
Even though he stood straight with apparent disdain Kagome could see the weariness in the lines of his posture. That was enough to seal her choice.  
  
Sesshoumaru frowned as he filtered out the babbling rambling rants of Jaken. The toad-youkai was loyal but he had no sense of proportion. Jaken was more worried about the insult to Sesshoumaru's person than Sesshoumaru himself.  
  
He felt a familiar small hand tug at the hem of his blood stained haori. The tai-youkai looked down into the small worried face of his ward Rin.  
  
"Are you all right Sesshoumaru-sama?" She asked in fear-tinged tones.  
  
"I am fine." He replied in his usual monotone.  
  
"Don't be a baka!" An unexpected crisp female voice.  
  
Sesshoumaru suppressed the urge to tear out the throat of the intruder and settled for lancing her with a freezing amber gaze. It failed to have any effect. Expected given that the target was that irrepressible ningen miko that ran with his hanyou brother.  
  
"InuYasha acts like a baby when it comes to treating injuries, surely the Great Western Lord does not fear stinging alcohol wipes and bandages?" He could see the crafty precision in the miko's eyes. She was choosing words that would generate a reaction. Should he give it to her. Iie.  
  
"I think not miko." He responded icily. "I am a tai-youkai. I have greater tolerance to pain and faster healing. I have no need for your ningen medicine."  
  
Kagome was surprised. He did not respond as InuYasha would, hotly defending his male courage.  
  
"Well, yes," she admitted deferentially. "But you were hurt defending us and I feel honor bound to offer what aid I may."  
  
"I defend the Western Lands." He corrected coldly. "This village is under my protection. It is on the edge of my property but it is Mine." He stressed. "Those renegade youkai broke protocol by attacking my domain."  
  
Kagome quickly back-pedalled. Okay, never cast aspirations on his honor.  
  
"All right." She admitted. "You defend your property and that includes the villages and villagers. If you recover quicker you can fend off any other attacks on your property and that will save lives: that is what I care about."  
  
Amber eyes studied the determined stance. A miko willing to work with youkai so that the ningen are protected. Was that why…?  
  
"Why do you travel with my half-breed brother miko?" He asked abruptly.  
  
Kagome started before deciding to answer honestly.  
  
"Do you know of the Shikon no Tama?" She asked carefully.  
  
The delicate features twisted with distaste.  
  
"Yes. The human talisman that belonged to the miko Midoriko. Lesser youkai seek the power it grants the owner."  
  
"But you do not seek the Shikon shards." Kagome noted delicately.  
  
Sesshoumaru huffed. "I do not need human magic to give me power. I have enough of my own."  
  
"Then why do you want the Tetsaiga?" Kagome asked daringly. "I know it was made by your father but it was designed to be used to protect humans."  
  
"Foolish ningen! How dare you question the Great Lord Sesshoumaru-sama!"  
  
Kagome's leather shod foot accidentally came down on the toad-youkai's head grinding his face into the ground. Rin giggled and clapped her hands.   
  
Sesshoumaru had to hide a smile at her action before he gathered enough composure to glare down at the female before grudgingly answering her query.  
  
"The other tai-youkai question my ability to rule my lands. I may be powerful but I cannot fight all of them if they ally with each other. If I have the Tetsaiga, which can kill a hundred youkai with one stroke, they will never dare to ally against the Western Lands."  
  
Kagome frowned. Feudal Era youkai politics was turning out to be a bit more complicated than she had thought. It wasn't just a dog-eat-dog, kill-kill deal.  
  
"And why do you seek the Shikon shards miko?" Sesshoumaru continued relentlessly.  
  
Kagome hesitated before explaining. "I am its Protector. I'm not a very good one though," she confessed. "I didn't know I Am its Protector until Centipede-Lady attacked me."  
  
Sesshoumaru frowned. "Then why do you travel with my brother?"  
  
Kagome motioned to the ground.   
  
"I'll answer your questions if you sit down and let me clean and bandage your wounds." She negotiated craftily.  
  
Grudgingly he obeyed her instruction and sat on the ground and removed the bone armor before removing the blood-stained haori. Kagome turned and spoke to Rin quietly before sending her off. With a great deal of protest Jaken obeyed Sesshoumaru's instructions to follow and protect Rin.  
  
A tendril of heat curled up in the pit of the modern teens stomach. Kagome had never felt it before but she knew good and well what it was from the frank gossip fests with her school friends: lust.  
  
No one could deny Sesshoumaru was gorgeous, almost angelic with his finely featured face, silky platinum hair, and lithely muscled body. Even the crescent moon and maroon-purple markings looked right on him. The lines on his wrist formed a vine-like design that coiled around his arms, shoulders and torso. The chiseled perfection was marred by the bleeding slashes and the absence of the left arm below the shoulder. Kagome winced. She stopped her hand from reaching out to touch the stump.  
  
"I am sorry." She spoke in hushed inadequate tones.  
  
He stared at her confused. "For what?"  
  
"For your arm."  
  
What strange creatures ningen were. "I fought with InuYasha and lost it in combat with him, not with you." He pointed out in placid tones that did nothing to hide his bitterness at losing the powerful heirloom to his crude younger hanyou sibling.  
  
Kagome shrugged as she pulled out a container of baby wipes to remove the worst of the blood and grime. Good thing these were biodegradable. It wouldn't do to confuse some archeologist with five hundred year old twentieth century disposable baby wipes.  
  
"Yes. And you have attacked us ever since but I can still regret the pain you suffered and the loss of your arm. This might hurt a little."  
  
Sesshoumaru stared down at the raven-head intent on cleaning his wounds with the stinging squares of thin paper-cloth.  
  
"I attack InuYasha for the Tetsaiga, not you or your friends." He corrected mildly.  
  
Kagome sat back on her heels and met his gaze squarely. "Yes. But when you attack my friends you attack me." She countered. "Consider us allies and honor bound to defend and protect each other."  
  
Sesshoumaru nodded and noted the information before repeating the question foremost in his mind.  
  
"Then why do you travel with InuYasha? Why are you his…ally?"  
  
Kagome hesitated before explaining as she continued to clean the wounds.  
  
"When Centipede-Lady attacked me for the Shikon no Tama I did not know I was a miko and its Protector. I freed InuYasha from the _____ Tree to stop her from getting the sacred jewel. When more youkai came looking for the jewel," Kagome's eyes became dark as she remembered the carrion-crow-youkai carrying off the boy. "I was afraid of one youkai getting its power so I fired an arrow. Unfortunately the arrow shattered the jewel into shards that scattered all over.   
  
"InuYasha wants the jewel to become a full youkai. I can track the shards power and purify them after InuYasha defeats the youkai that has it so we work together."  
  
"And if you assemble all the shards?" Sesshoumaru inquired pointedly.  
  
Kagome shrugged. "I don't know. I hope InuYasha gives up on his foolish wish to become a full youkai. Most of the ones I've met are quite nasty and have no self control. I'm afraid if InuYasha becomes a full youkai he won't be InuYasha any more."  
  
Sesshoumaru nodded. "You are correct miko. InuYasha was not raised with the discipline a tai-youkai needs to remain sane."  
  
Kagome shuddered and nodded remembering how the youkai blood lust over powered InuYasha's control.  
  
Sesshoumaru shrugged. "As much as I prefer having a youkai for a brother I will not appreciate having to kill an insane youkai brother." Amber eyes lanced into the ningen teenager. Kagome shivered, a mixture of avatistic fear and desire. "A hanyou brother is an irritant but an irritant that can be ignored."  
  
Kagome stopped cleaning the wounds. Her eyes widened. "You have been ignoring him all along! You have no true desire to kill him. You just want the Tetsaiga. But without its sealing power InuYasha's youkai blood will overpower him and drive him mad. If you get it you will kill him to stop him from going on a rampage. That's why you have been so relentless when you attack."  
  
He inclined his head acknowledging her hit. "Very true miko."  
  
Kagome frowned. "Stop calling me miko." She groused. "You sound like InuYasha, only he calls me bitch or wench. My name is Kagome. Ka-go-me."  
  
Heavily lashed eyes lowered. "Very well Kagome-san."  
  
Kagome smiled cheerfully. "Great." She squeezed daubs of antibiotic onto gauze pads and pressed them over the wounds that were already closing. "This stuff kills germs that cause infections. It also has a pain killer so you should feel numb in a few minutes." She warned as she used strips of sticky tape to hold the gauze pads in place. "From what I know of youkai healing your wounds should close in about thirty hours. You should be able to remove the gauze pads tomorrow evening." She smoothened the strip of tape over his bicep and patted it. "Okay, now turn around."  
  
Surprisingly he obeyed without question leaning forward to allow her to repeat the procedure on his back. Once she was finished Sesshoumaru slipped into an undyed cotton yukata Jaken had procured from the villagers and left followed by his retainer and his ningen charge.  
  
Kagome watched the trio vanish into the forest feeling slightly subduded by the greater understanding she gained into InuYasha's brother. Sango had to call her name several times before Kagome responded.  
  
"Kagome, are you all right? He didn't do anything to you, did he?"  
  
"Iie, Sango-chan. Sesshoumaru didn't do anything. I was just thinking."  
  
"About what? How gorgeous he is?" Sango asked half teasingly. "He may be a tai-youkai but he is more beautiful than most women."  
  
Kagome blushed and giggled. "Sango!!! Let's just go get something to drink. I'm starving. Do you want any ramen?"  
  
Both girls settled into the usual relaxed chatter as they walked to the central building where they were quartered.  
  
Unknown to anyone, Kagome had not escaped the youkai attack unscathed. A tiny fragment of flying stone had opened a wound in her scalp just inside her hairline near her temple. As she leaned over the tai-youkai's back cleaning the worst of the blood and gore blood from her head wound dripped into the open wounds in Sesshoumaru's back. This minor almost insignificant event would turn out to have major repercussions in the near and distant future.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *  
  
TBC...  
  
===================================================================  
  
Please review, no flames though..  
  
--Sarhea 


	2. Dreams Confuse Two

NOTE: Definitely AU. Some episode spoilers. Sango has joined the group. They've met Rin, Sesshoumaru's ward. Things are tense between InuYasha and Sesshoumaru. Naraku is still on the loose.  
  
NOTE: I've used japanese and english terms intermittantly. I'll probably post a glossary or reedit the file some point in the future but right now I'm impatient to get the fic up for reviews so enjoy!!  
  
AN: WARNING!! WARNING!! Smut Alert. Vivid Imagery Ahead!!  
  
===================================================================  
  
~*~ Dreams Confuse Two ~*~  
  
A pair of strikingly brilliant, laughing, eyes.  
  
Warm silky smooth arms that reached out and embraced him caressing skin without care.  
  
The haze from a strikingly familiar aroma of flowers and musk.  
  
Full, soft lips exploring every inch of exposed skin. Sharp teeth nipping hard enough to sting but not to draw blood. A raspy moist tongue following the first two.  
  
Slim lithely muscled legs that wrapped around his waist.  
  
The moist heat between said legs tempting him beyond belief.  
  
Blindly he reached out trying to hold her. His hands passed through fog and mist.  
  
Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands, sat up abruptly in his bed yukata clinging to his muscled form from his perspiration, his cock stiffly erect and hard as a rock. Furious with his empty bed and yet unwilling to sate his aroused lust on the nearest convenient female he grabbed the nearest object, a porcelain ewer, and threw it at the sandalwood screen. It shattered into tiny fragments with a satisfactory crash. But it wasn't enough. He wanted her, the lady of his dreams.  
  
Absently he rose from his bed and walked to a detailed screen door and slid it aside to walk onto a small wrap-around walkway. Not tactically secure but Sesshoumaru didn't give a damn about tactics in the heart of his territory.   
  
He had abandoned his home base, a mountain fortress, in favour of a recreational property his mother had used when she desired peace and privacy. But He was denied that. The dreams kept on coming; taunting, seducing, arousing him beyond belief. Sesshoumaru was so out of control he deliberately sent away his retainers unwilling to risk his temper on unwary by-standers.  
  
At first he had wanted the dreams to stop but with each subsequent experience he found himself yearning for the wistful beauty that somehow caused a matching resonance within him with her open delight. He found himself lusting after a figment of his imagination that was becoming more important than his quest to secure Tetsaiga.  
  
Red bled into amber eyes. Claw-like nails dug into the polished wood splintering the balcony rail to shards.   
  
No! He would not be a weakling! He would not let emotions bind and lead him down the path to destruction! He would not!  
  
A dozen measured breaths later Sesshoumaru felt more in control of his youkai rage.  
  
He needed Tetsaiga. His foolish brother would not give it to him, and InuYasha's ningen allies would not help him since the sword sealed the blood-rage of youkai blood. Perhaps someone else would have a solution to his quandary. The miko InuYasha traveled with, Kagome, she was educated and less mulish than the hanyou. Perhaps she would have an idea.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *  
  
A few weeks later and Sesshoumaru wasn't quite certain how it happened: Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands, traveling with his despised hanyou brother. He had originally decided to approach InuYasha's miko, Kagome, to discuss a possible trade/alliance. It had turned into a full fledge alliance with the misfit group.  
  
It suited his purpose of sorts; basically clearing his land of uncivilized youkai and hanyou that tended to go on useless destructive rampages.  
  
  
  
A few meters away Kagome grinned at Sango as she stretched enjoying the heated waters of the hot springs. They never would have known about this particular treat if it wasn't for one of their newest traveling companions; Sesshoumaru prided himself on knowing detailed aspects of his land including hot springs and out of the way villages.  
  
"I told you having Sesshoumaru along was a good idea Sango." She smirked at the taijiki who was also enjoying the au-natural bathing facilities. She frowned as she caught sight of the little ones in the pool. "Shippo, Rin, I want both of you guys to wash your hair."  
  
"Kagome onee-chan!!" Shippo whined shrinking away ready to flee.  
  
"No buts Shippo!" Kagome ordered sharply. "Don't you dare run or I'll wash your hair for you!" She gently finger-combed Rin's hair to remove the worst tangles and knots.  
  
Grumbling the kitsune pup conceded, obeying her orders. Of course being children he finished up as fast as he could and dressed before fleeing followed closely by a giggling Rin. Kagome and Sango watched the two children flee.  
  
Kagome sighed feeling slightly irritated. What was it about boys and washing up? She could remember her brother Souta giving her mother problems as well.  
  
Sango studied the pensive look on her friend's face.  
  
"What's bothering you Kagome?"  
  
The teenager blushed bright red. "Nothing. Much." She muttered.  
  
Sango arched a brow. "Much? Seems like a lot." She responded. "What is it?"  
  
Kagome hesitated before confiding in her close female friend.  
  
"It started with that reptilian youkai attack a week ago."  
  
*~* Flashback *~*  
  
"Inu Yasha! Don't be an idiot! Wait for Sesshoumaru!"  
  
Kagome screamed as a tree shattered into splinters from the youkai's attack.  
  
"Shut up wench! Get out of here!"  
  
Kagome hissed with displeasure as she scooped up Rin and fled with Shippo clinging to her back.  
  
"That idiot!" She muttered to Miroku who was hiding behind the boulder with her.  
  
Both shuddred as the impact of the Tetsaiga on the youkai had the expected effect with lots of screaming and spilled blood. Kagome peeked over the top of the boulder. Blue eyes widened in horror.  
  
Tetsaiga had no effect!  
  
"What?"  
  
"The Shikon shard the lizard-youkai has is augmenting its scaly armor." A dispassionate cultured voice murmured from above her shoulder.   
  
"The shard has to be removed before it can be killed." Kagome murmured grimly as she studied the crocodile-like monster that was wearing InuYasha down with its very mystically augmented physical attacks.  
  
"Can you determine its location?" Almond shaped gold eyes were intent on the youkai attacking his half-brother.  
  
Kagome nodded. "Yes. There are five. One in its throat and in each shoulder and in each thigh."  
  
Sesshoumaru frowned. "Naraku is taking some risk augment this youkai with five shards."  
  
"He wants to remove you." Kagome stated with certainty. "He doesn't like it, that you have chosen to ally with us, against him."  
  
The taiyoukai lifted one shoulder in a tiny shrug. "I care not what that hanyou feels." A small frown creased the smooth brow. "It is a reckless move, quite unlike him."  
  
Kagome winced. "I have to agree with you." A loud explosion interrupted their converstion. "But could we talk about the implications later?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
*~* End Flashback *~*  
  
Sango stared at her friend curious. She moved closer to the girl through the heated water of the pool until she sat next to the younger woman.  
  
"What does that have to do with what you are feeling?"  
  
Kagome winced and shifted.  
  
"Everything started changing after that fight."  
  
"What do you mean?" Sango was confused. "What's changed?"  
  
So Kagome explained.  
  
*~* Flashback *~*  
  
Kagome hissed and arched her back reflexively to get away from the pain.  
  
"Oww!" She yelped as a large hand pressed down on the small of her back flattening her against the rough straw mat upon which she lay.  
  
"Stop moving miko." A cool familiar voice murmured.  
  
Kagome fumed. She could recognized the hints of amusement in the low husky voice.  
  
"You don't have to be so happy you know. And don't call me miko!"  
  
A low masculine chuckle behind her head.  
  
"Very well... Kagome."  
  
Sesshoumaru emphasized each syllable in her name as he smoothened herbal salve into the open welts in Kagome's back. They weren't serious – just shallow scrapes over her ribs caused by shards of rock and splinters that were deflected across her rib cage without actually penetrating her torso. The rest of her injuries were minor scrapes on her hands, legs and knees.  
  
Kagome moaned before going limp with pleasure as the pain killing agent in the antibiotic salve went to work numbing the worst of her aches. She smiled in contentment as she concentrated on enjoying the feeling of strong slim fingers working the salve into her back.  
  
The tai-youkai raised a slim brow in speculative interest. Humans tended to avoid him for whatever reason. Rin was the only one who would run to him for protection, for safety. The taijiki was looking after the houshi and the hanyou. It had surprised him when the miko told her friends the Western Lord would treat her wounds and vice versa. InuYasha had protested her preference to have him, Sesshoumaru, treat her wounds but Kagome had stood firm in her choice.  
  
Sesshoumaru wasn't concerned about his own wounds, his preternatural healing was rapidly closing the shallow wounds even as the seconds passed. He was so intent on making sure each of the scrapes on Kagome's back was treated that he did not notice a few drops of his blood fall into one of the scrapes in her back.  
  
Long fingers tipped with claw-like nails carefully slipped under the elastic straps of the strange garment she wore under her strange kimono – a horizontal strap across her back and two perpendicular narrower straps to each shoulder. The garment left large amounts of skin naked to the viewer. He could understand Kagome wanting a woman to treat her wounds but Miroku and InuYasha had shoulder and arm wounds that needed a third party to treat them. InuYasha would not tolerate Sesshoumaru, the least injured, treating his wounds so that left Sango. InuYasha had fumed over the knowledge that his despised elder brother would be seeing Kagome in practically nothing but Kagome got her way.  
  
Sesshoumaru was intrigued by the stretchy material under his fingers. It could be pulled out of shape but returned to its original tension when released. How curious, just like the design of the outfits she wore and she herself.  
  
"You can turn over." He announced.  
  
Kagome pushed herself up on the heels of her hand and turned to sit on her backside. A deep blush suffused the pale skin of her cheeks and breasts. Yes she had exposed as much wearing a bikini but that was different! This was Sesshoumaru, a guy brought up in a different time with different standards of feminine modesty!  
  
The tai-youkai simply raised a brow, gold eyes skimming over the expanse of pale skin barely covered by two scrapes of shiny material and lace. How intriguing… Intense eyes studied the construction of the strange garment. When considered intellectually the item was definitely more effective than the breast-bands most females, youkai and ningen, used. And it definitely had an interesting effect on the male libido. Sesshoumaru firmly ignored the surge of heat in his blood. He tried to force his desires down to concentrate more on her wounds   
  
Kagome shivered as the callused supple slipped over her waist coating the raw welts and scrapes with salve.  
  
Sesshoumaru was more interested in exploring the texture of satiny soft skin. Was all of her as silky smooth? Youkai tended to be heavily muscled but Kagome's skin held a resilient softness that intrigued the tai-youkai. Nails whispered over pale skin leaving a trail of goosebumps as fingers explored the female form exposed to his senses – the defined pectoral muscles of her shoulders, the slender indent of her waist, the curve of her belly, the flare of her hips. Sensitive nostrils flared as he caught scent of her arousal – pheromones, musk, jasmine and violets. His own desire surged when he heard the small hitch in her breath, the sharp intake of air, noted the dilation of round pupils until all that remained was a thin ring of blue around black pools, the subtle arching invitation in the female body before him. It took all of his control to stamp down the desire to take up the invitation.  
  
"Done." He was proud of the steady tone of his voice even as he gave thanks for the years of experience in maintaining an icy façade.  
  
*~* End Flashback *~*  
  
Sango gaped at her friend.  
  
"You what?!" She screeched in low tones. She did not want anyone running in and interrupting the conversation.  
  
Kagome blushed.  
  
"I couldn't help it." She defended herself. "For some reason I started really 'seeing' him."  
  
"Seeing him as a potential lover." Sango pointed out skeptically. "What about InuYasha?"  
  
Kagome shrugged. "InuYasha was a crush. Besides he's too hung up on Kikyo." Sango gaped. Kagome struggled to explain. "It's like I started seeing Sesshoumaru as more than just an ally against Naraku.  
  
"Do you know he truly doesn't enjoy killing? He likes pitting his skill against adversaries to become better. Only thing is there are no formal contests in this time, all fights are to the death. He prefers to use his reputation to avoid petty fights."  
  
"Then why does he attack InuYasha?" Sango asked skeptically.  
  
"He wants Tetsaiga." Kagome answered wistfully. "Youkai will not dare attack a tai-youkai that wields a sword that can kill a hundred youkai in one stroke. They will think twice before attacking the Western Lands."  
  
Sangos eyes widened, her mouth a slight o of astonishment. She thought for a moment before speaking.  
  
"Okay, you have the hots for him. Lots of girls have crushes on guys. But this guy is a tai-youkai who hates ningen."  
  
Kagome smiled wistfully. "I know. I keep telling myself that. Besides I don't want to risk our friendship. Lots of girls out grow crushes on older guys."  
  
Sango stared at her friend. Kagome fidgeted before looking away.  
  
"What are you not telling me Kagome?" She asked suspiciously. Kagome blushed and submerged herself into the water. Sango waited until her friend rose out of the water for a breath of air. "You are hiding something!" She exclaimed gleefully. "What is it?"  
  
Kagome glanced away before meeting Sango's eyes shyly. There was a strangely adult knowing look in the blue eyes.  
  
"I've been having dreams."  
  
Sango frowned. "Dreams? What kind--." Brown eyes widened. "You mean--?"  
  
Kagome blushed. "Yes." A pause while she gathered her nerve. "Not just when I sleep. Sometimes I daydream. I find myself looking at his hand and wondering how it would feel like to have him touch me. Everywhere."  
  
"Kagome!" The tone was scandalized but there was understanding laughter in the brown eyes. "Spill it!" Sango ordered.  
  
Kagome did.  
  
"I've been dreaming more and more since that fight. At first of a faceless lover. Now I dream of gold eyes and silvery hair. Not InuYasha's face. A triangular face with red markings and a blue crescent. A hand with red markings touching me everywhere.  
  
"I dream of a lover that takes me over the edge with a touch, with just his voice…" Kagome confessed rapidly. "Sometimes I feel I could be forever happy if I could just Be with him listening to his voice. I understand why Rin follows him everywhere, why she is happy with him.  
  
"He is gentle Sango. In a strange fashion he is the most gentle person I've met. He never uses more than necessary force in any conflict. In fact he goes about to avoid conflict in a rather arrogant fashion. In my time there are men who abuse their wives and daughters, they drink and are violent and crude. Sesshoumaru would never do that. He practises a code of honor that is different even though it is harshly pragmatic."  
  
Sango stared at her friend with sympathy.  
  
"Kagome, Sesshoumaru is a tai-youkai. He hates his father for tainting the family bloodline by taking a ningen-hime as a second wife. He will never consider you as a potential lover, not to mention wife."  
  
Kagome sighed wistfully. "I know it is just a foolish girlish dream. But sometimes I hope that he will look at me and really See me."  
  
Sango made some appropriate, comforting, noises even as her mind worked.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *  
  
In the days that followed the tajiki watched her best friend and the tai-youkai surreptiously and what she saw gave her hope.  
  
She saw a man and a woman dancing the courtship dance; one step, circle, bow, step back, and repeat. She saw Kagome growing more and more frustrated by the growing desire building between the pair. She saw Sesshoumaru pointedly ignoring the attraction and Kagome. She saw everyone around except InuYasha was aware that Something was going on between the miko from the future and the Western Lord.  
  
"This is driving me crazy," Kagome confessed one evening as she prepared dinner while the male members of the group scouted the surrounding area for any threats. "I know he knows I watch him. He's a youkai, don't they smell fear? Can't he smell my desire?" Kagome whispered even as her eyes dilated from cherished memories. "I want him, all of him, any of him. Sango, his voice is enough to make my stomach knot, when he is near I feel as though every nerve is on fire. Sango, I think I love him, I truly do."  
  
"Kagome, this is just a crush! Remember your crush on InuYasha? You've just transferred it to the closest available guy and Miroku doesn't count." Sango tried to insert a sense of proportion into the situation. "You think you want Sesshoumaru because you don't and can't have him."  
  
There was a strangely haunted light in the miko's blue eyes when she responded. "I don't think so Sango, I think this is the real thing."  
  
Sango stared at her friend feeling fear for the first time. Where would this lead them?  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *  
  
TBC...  
  
===================================================================  
  
Please review, no flames though..  
  
--Sarhea 


	3. Before They Choose

NOTE: Definitely AU. Some episode spoilers. Sango has joined the group. They've met Rin, Sesshoumaru's ward. Things are tense between InuYasha and Sesshoumaru. Naraku is still on the loose.  
  
NOTE: I've used japanese and english terms intermittantly. I'll probably post a glossary or reedit the file some point in the future but right now I'm impatient to get the fic up for reviews so enjoy!!  
  
AN: WARNING!! WARNING!! Smut Alert!! I've done my duty. Proceed.  
  
===================================================================  
  
~*~ Before They Chose ~*~  
  
"I think we should set up camp soon." The familiar cultured voice broke the quiet. "It is a new moon and we should be in a defensible position."  
  
Kagome whimpered softly at the voice; the tone not the words. As far as she was concerned Sesshoumaru could make a lecture on advanced physics sound interesting.  
  
InuYasha grumbled but agreed. The past weeks had instilled a hefty dose of reluctant respect for his brother's pragmatism. Unlikely Miroku who preferred conning a village into hosting the Shikon shard hunters, Sesshoumaru planned his travels to take advantage of the local environment including natural geologic features.  
  
Two hours later the group were settled into a defensible crevasse in a sheer cliff face that led to a network of natural caverns.  
  
"Don't go exploring by yourself," Sesshoumaru warned every member of the group. "The cavern network stretch for leagues. Not all of it has been mapped."  
  
Everyone had acknowledged the warning and settled down into natural alcoves off from the main chamber.  
  
"Why is it so warm in here?" Sango asked curious as she studied the dying flames of the small camp fire.  
  
"There are several streams of molten rock that flow through fissures in the bedrock," Sesshoumaru explained. "The heat from them warm the caverns and natural springs in another part of the caverns."  
  
Kagome sighed. "I really want to wash my hair." She murmured running her fingers through the silky strands.   
  
"Not today," Sango replied sternly. "We're all too tired. Tomorrow morning?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
An hour later everyone was settled and fast asleep. Except for one Kagome Hiragushi.  
  
She squirmed in her sleeping bag dislodging the sleeping kitsune on top of her bedrolls in her attempts to find a comfortable position. After sometime she gave up.  
  
Stealthily she slipped out of the polyester sleeping sack and the niche she, Sango, Shippo and Kirara shared. There was no one in the main chamber. Assuming the boys were soundly asleep Kagome rummaged through her rucksack and located a flashlight, spare batteries, chalk, a towel and a fresh yukata.  
  
Trusting her instincts and common sense Kagome walked out of the main chamber following her intuition, making chalk marks on the stone walls at tunnel intersections. Just when she was about ready to give up and go back she stumbled into a chamber decorated by nature. Everywhere gorgeous 'flowers' of minerals had 'grown' creating the impression of a fairyworld. The moonlight filetered through cracks in the ceiling refracted through prisms of minerals creating dancing rainbows of light and color.  
  
Dazed by the beauty Kagome's feet took her deeper into the chamber until she found what she had been looking for: a natural hotspring. After making sure it was warm enough for bathing she twisted her hair into a topknot, stripped off her garments and stepped into the luxurious mineral bath. It was hot enough to be on the right side of painful. Tense muscles unknotted and went limp.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *  
  
Sesshoumaru was only certain of one thing; the gods would most certainly give him more power in his next life for all he was enduring in this.  
  
His hanyou brother was a constant irritant but easily ignored or tolerated.  
  
Naraku was a potential threat that was being dealt with. Sesshoumaru wasn't going to ignore potential enemies until they become too dangerous. He did that before and lost an arm to his hanyou sibling. Yes, it would regenerate in a few decades but it was irritating to compensate for it in battle, and to bear the looks of fear and pity from ningen and the miko Kagome.  
  
Kagome, she was something else, a persistent thorn in his side. He respected and desired her, two things no ningen ever had from him. How, he still wasn't certain. All he knew was the attraction he felt for her crept up insidiously, infecting him like a disease…  
  
At first it had been onesided, beginning when she had first treated injuries he gained from defending a ningen village under his protection. It had grown into respect for her skills, knowledge and tact in handling his brother and so many diverse opponents and allies. Later desire had come, desire he had ignored 'knowing' no miko would consider a taiyoukai as anything more than an ally, or even a friend.  
  
He was mistaken. Desire had come, desire on her part, desire for him, not his foolish half-breed brother. It began when he treated her wounds from an attack by a reptile youkai with five Shikon shards. It had been involuntary, candid, and utterly without deceit or purpose. Sesshoumaru was used to females, youkai and ningen alike, trying to use him for their own gain. It was easy for him to ignore them, but not her, not Kagome. Because he desired her as well.  
  
He shifted uncomfortably in his semi-reclining position against a boulder cushioned by his youkino – the furry pelt that lay on his right shoulder, the manifestation of his youkai heritage. When powerful youkai, like tai-youkai, assumed a humanoid form the excess youki, youkai energy, manifested into a material form that was disassociated from the humanoid form. It was a common practice to avoid channeling all of his youki when in a lesser form.  
  
Most tai-youkai chose to manifest their excess youki in the form of a jewel, or a precious artifact. This led to the ningen myth variations regarding demon heart: a powerful youkai hides his heart in an iron casket; the ningen 'hero' finds the casket and shatters the jewel/heart hidden to free the hime.  
  
Sesshoumaru disdained that practise preferring to manifest his excess youki, his youkino, as a pelt that resembled his fur in full demon form. His youkino could react to his inner desires as though it were alive. That led to the general belief that the pelt on his shoulder was a part of him, his tail. Sesshoumaru had to laugh whenever he heard whispers about his 'tail'. Yes the pelt was part of him, in fact it was more a part of him than anyone else could ever comprehend; it contained a great deal of his personal power, power he never used unless in full demon form, even then only sparringly.  
  
A soft snore brought him back to the present sharply.  
  
Jaken was starting to grudgingly accept the situation. The toad-youkai had endured a great deal of beatings at the hands of the miko and the taijiki before comprehending females, even ningen females, could be deadly. Sesshoumaru could have told him that long ago but Jaken needed to experience it before he would change his mind.  
  
Gold eyes slid over to Rin, his ningen ward. Despite her new close relationship with Kagome, her play companions the neko-youkai and the kitsune, Rin insisted on sleeping close to the tai-youkai every night. She still feared being abandoned, waking up alone.  
  
Sesshoumaru stifled a sigh as he sat up. That had to change. Rin could not be with him all the time, she had to learn to cope with the separations. Feeling troubled the Western Lord left the sleeping alcove hoping for inspiration. Once in the main chamber one scent caught his attention above all.  
  
Kagome. The scent was fresh, recent. Silently cursing pig-headed mikos' Sesshoumaru ran swiftly and silently, following the sweet scent, readying his poison claws. He had no swords or armor but he was certain he could handle anything that crossed his path. There was no scent of blood or fear. The miko was fine, for now, but just in case…  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *  
  
Kagome sighed softly as the hot mineral water soothed her aches away. She only wished it could soothe her desires away, her need for a certain tai-youkai.  
  
A soft whimper escaped her lips as the familiar knotted feeling came to life in the pit of her belly, as heat pooled between her legs, as her nipples stiffened to almost painful sensitivity.  
  
Instinct and desire told her to masturbate, to satisfy the urge. Inexperience and innate modesty screamed to run and ignore those voices. Kagome was tired of melting into a yearning puddle everytime she neared the Western Lord; of aching for release, for something she knew nothing about; of suffering in silence until the feelings subsided enough for her to move and speak normally.  
  
Who would it hurt? Her companions were several caverns back and sound asleep. InuYasha was a human during new moons. Sesshoumaru often spent the nights scouting or doing whatever before returning a few hours before dawn.   
  
'Do it. He will never know.' A wicked voice urged.  
  
Kagome moved until she found a comfortable postion in a natural 'chair' formed by a ledge under the water at the edge of the pool. Gingerly she spread her thighs apart. Her breath caught as the mineral water caressed already sensitive flesh. She closed her eyes and imagined.   
  
She imagined a tall slim form above her leaning down. Silky platinum hair caressing her nipples. Hot golden eyes studying every inch of exposed skin. Goosebumps formed despite the wet heated environment. Kagome could almost feel the trail of dangerously sharp claws across her skin, the caress of his touch.  
  
Unknowingly her hands rose and cupped her breasts, fingertips brushing across hard peaks. She whimpered as fresh lightening burned between her thighs. Soft moans and stifled gasps escaped her lips as she murmured the cause of her yearning, each syllable whispered with almost heartbreaking need.  
  
"Sess-shou-ma-ru."  
  
A few meters away a matching heat flared to life within one tai-youkai.  
  
He hadn't intended to intrude on her privacy. He hadn't known what she intended. Sesshoumaru could blame the minerals and water for masking her scents but they did not keep him there watching the young miko touch herself. They did not keep him from doing the honorable thing and walking away when she whispered his name between breathy pants as she caressed her breasts.  
  
He could not deny the instinct that urged him to respond whole-heartedly to her siren call, to match her need with his, to satisfy her desire with his, to touch her body with his.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *  
  
TBC...  
  
===================================================================  
  
AN: Whew!! What do you think?  
  
Please review, no flames though..  
  
--Sarhea 


	4. To Accept

NOTE: Definitely AU. Some episode spoilers. Sango has joined the group. They've met Rin, Sesshoumaru's ward. Things are tense between InuYasha and Sesshoumaru. Naraku is still on the loose.  
  
NOTE: I've used japanese and english terms intermittantly. I'll probably post a glossary or reedit the file some point in the future but right now I'm impatient to get the fic up for reviews so enjoy!!  
  
AN: Sorry for the long wait. I've had other projects on the go. That's the difficulty of writing, posting, and editing so many fics simultaneously. Now on with the show. You may wish to read the previous chapter at least.  
  
AN: WARNING!! WARNING!! Smut Alert. Vivid Imagery Ahead!! Skip if you're underage.  
  
===========================================================  
  
~*~ To Accept ~*~  
  
Kagome bit her lip tasting the coppery tang of blood. It was not enough. A frustrated whimper escaped her as her actions honed the edge of her desire. One hand between her legs fingers slick from her juices and the water, the other caressing one breast testing the edge of her nails against the sensitive tip.  
  
A soft suppressed scream broke the harsh heated stillness as she came. Her body slumped against the worn stone breathing raggedly. The emptiness within her made a mockery of the relief she had just gained. Tears welled in her eyes. It was not enough. It would never be enough.  
  
She crossed her legs, drawing them up in a futile attempt to sate the ache between her thighs. She could feel the emptiness in the pit of her stomach.  
  
A soft growl broke the silence.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Sesshoumaru wasn't certain what kept him rooted to his position, every muscle frozen, denying his rational side's attempts to get him to move, to give her some privacy.  
  
He stood watching her pleasure herself with inexperienced hands. He could see the hesitation in her motions, the slight pause before she caressed herself. He could smell the scent of her desire, her need, her yearning; salt, jasmine, musk, blood. His body did not react as expected; it froze and watched instead of moving to pounce on her. This was more than just a potential bed-warmer, this one could be so much more…  
  
His cock ached with almost exquisite pain. It was easy to ignore the physical reactions. It was more difficult to ignore the emotional urge to pleasure her and in doing so pleasure himself.  
  
He heard her soft scream as she came; smell the salt of her tears, sense her unhappiness.  
  
An involuntary growl escaped him.  
  
The slim form turned to him, arms crossed across her torso self-consciously before she slipped deeper into the pool.  
  
Blue eyes widened as the miko realized who had violated her privacy.  
  
"Sesshoumaru…"  
  
  
  
Kagome stiffened when she realized He knew. Feminine pride tamped down the innate desire to make excuses for her actions.  
  
Blue eyes met gold, without fear, with a hint of challenge. Without words he moved towards the edge of the pool and knelt down by the rim. A clawed hand ran through black tresses, lightly tugging at the knots, massaging the scalp.  
  
Kagome couldn't resist the urge to purr as she turned her cheek into his hand and brushed her lips against his palm.  
  
"Are you sure?" It was the first words he had spoken since he entered the cavern. He was surprised at the harsh rasp in his voice.  
  
No. "Yes." It was what she wanted, it was what every instinct desired.  
  
He was confused. "Why?"  
  
She shrugged. "I don't know. I don't care."  
  
Much later Kagome could never explain what drew her to do what she did; she reached out and tugged at the fur-like pelt that lay across his right shoulder.   
  
Both froze.  
  
He could feel the purity and strength within her flowing into him. It didn't destroy or hurt. It was intoxicating like alcohol.  
  
She could feel the dark energy of his youki under her fingertips. It didn't scare her. She could feel it reaching out and wrapping around her like a blanket, warm, comforting, entrancing. The nerves between her legs screamed for release. Her nipples hardened to the point of pain. Her breath escaped choppily.  
  
"Sessss…" It was a plea. He could not resist.  
  
His mouth came down on hers. Fangs nipped at her full lower lip drawing blood. Without concern she slipped her tongue into his mouth exploring, tasting, feeling…  
  
A few seconds later Kagome found herself hauled out of the water and tossed to the ground. Instead of falling on dirt she sprawled on her back atop the fur pelt. She could sense the energies in the pelt under her skin. A small hand stroked the long fur enjoying the silky texture. She twisted to enjoy the sensation on every square inch of bare skin.  
  
He hissed. He could feel her hands stroke, her body writhe against his skin…  
  
"Kagome!"  
  
She stilled. "What is it?"  
  
"Stop that!" He ordered harshly.  
  
Kagome was confused. "Stop what?"  
  
"Stop moving! I can't control myself when you move like that!"  
  
An imp of mischief came to life within the Shikon miko.  
  
"Really?" She drawled slowly.  
  
Gold eyes burned. He was kneeling on the pelt besides her.  
  
"Yes really, miko." He responded, mimicking her drawl.   
  
A few deft movements and he was nude. Her breath caught as she devoured the sight of him, the defined lean perfection. Blue eyes followed the maroon vine-like markings; elaborate tattoos representing mystical channels. Kagome couldn't but help rising on her knees and reaching out with both hands to trace the markings. Perfect symmetry along calves, thighs, hips, abs, shoulders, back. The only jarring note was the arm missing below the left shoulder. Regret and self-hatred were foremost in the miko's mind. She was responsible for this travesty. She was the one who removed Tetsaiga and helped InuYasha activate it.  
  
Somehow he sensed her feelings.  
  
"Don't. If you hadn't I most likely would have killed InuYasha and you." He tilted her chin up and kissed her deeply reminding her of the preceding emotions to regret.  
  
Kagome responded without a qualm. Instinct guided her hands over the markings even as he pulled her to new dizzying heights of pleasure.  
  
"Sess-shouuu!!" The name was hissed out between clenched teeth as she tumbled into the abyss of pure pleasure and blacked out.  
  
Sesshoumaru caught the limp body and gently stretched her out on the discarded clothing before sitting beside her to wait. He watched the pale oval face under him even as his hand idly caressed the length of her body. His body still ached for respite within her but deeper desires over-ruled those surface instincts. He watched the sweep of black lashes flutter and lift. He watched dazed blue eyes dilate then contract into self-awareness. Full moist lips curved into a welcoming smile.  
  
"Ses-shou-ma-ru." She whispered his name between breathy pants.  
  
He could not resist the urge to tease her.  
  
"Yes, Ka-go-me?" The silken voice stretched each syllable sending shivers up her spine.  
  
He's doing it deliberately! Kagome fumed. He wasn't going to have all the control. A sly smile curved her lips.  
  
She arched thrusting her breasts into prominent display resting back on the heels of her hands, clenching her fists in the thick fur cushioning her from the stony ground.  
  
He hissed feeling that deliberate caress on his youkino. Ghost fingers trailed an electric path up the backs of his legs and his spine.  
  
"Ka-go-me…" This time the tone was filled with warning.  
  
She pouted and disregarded the tone as she twisted to lie on her stomach. The texture stimulated her already heated desires. She glanced over her left shoulder.  
  
"Yes Sesshoumaru?" She asked with studied nonchalance. She could almost see his control fragmenting. It excited her. She wanted him to let go. She wanted to feel the full fury of his passion. She wanted everything.  
  
Red bled into gold. He growled. It was a small sound that was enough to thrill her. He pounced.  
  
She was lost in a haze of pain and pleasure as he tested every square inch of creamy skin with taste and touch, with fang and claw, raising welts and drawing blood but she didn't care. She could feel her own blunt nails digging with far less care to draw blood as well.   
  
Power. Power and bliss.  
  
Her hands moved without conscious control tracing the maroon markings drawing blood.  
  
He hissed but she sensed his approval of her actions.  
  
This was more than love. This passion screamed for blood.  
  
And Kagome was more than ready to gift him with a different kind of blood. She parted her thighs readily biting her lip at the sensations – his hard cock sliding slickly against her wet core between the fleshy folds. She shifted and came as the tip of his shaft brushed against her clit. She bit her lip quivering as the aftershocks of her orgasm rippled into her belly.   
  
It wasn't enough. She shifted until could feel the strength between her thighs as she raised her knees for more comfort, in preparation for him. Glazed blue eyes met red flecked gold. Strangely enough, the sight did not scare her, it thrilled her.  
  
"I am yours Maru-chan." She did not know why she called him that but the name suited him. She saw the fleeting recognition in gold eyes.  
  
"Yessss." He hissed before sinking his fangs where neck met shoulder the same instant his shaft slid into her. Every single instinct screamed at him to take her hard and fast, to bind her to him for all time, to cover her with his scent, to Mark her. He could feel the musky juices from her coating him; she was ready. He shifted…  
  
She felt the fleeting pain at her shoulder and a sharper hurt between her legs that blossomed into a different sort of ache. Her eyes drifted shut as she tried to focus on the sensations of his cock within her body. She felt him shift, moving deeper until felt he would tear her apart. Her eyes flew open filled with panic.  
  
"Stop! You're too big!" She gasped.  
  
Kagome felt the fangs leave her flesh and the abrasive tongue lap soothingly at the small wound. He chuckled softly. She could feel the vibrations in the chest above her, through her loins.  
  
"Shhh." He murmured softly nuzzling her hair, tasting the sensitive shell of her ear. "It only hurts the first time."  
  
"Says you!" She retorted.  
  
Sess stomped on the urge to ignore her protest. He could understand her panic. Inu-youkais were naturally more endowed than ningen. Very few females, youkai or not, could accept the full force of his passion. He had thought Kagome could. There was so much strength in her.   
  
"Do you want me to stop?" He asked through clenched teeth. Don't do that. Don't ask me to stop.  
  
Kagome was startled. Did she want to stop? "No." She admitted. "But help me." Her lip trembled. "I want you. I want all of you." She whispered. "But I can't take you like this."  
  
Red retreated as he considered her words. Would she? He drew back and sat on his heels. Kagome winced as she felt his thickness slip out of her. He caught her gaze.  
  
"Do you trust me?"  
  
Kagome was confused. "Yes."  
  
In one quick motion he flipped her onto her stomach and manipulated her body like a doll until she was on her knees before him, forehead resting on her crossed arms. There was something about this that made her feel so vulnerable, like prey, but oh so feminine.  
  
She shivered feeling the light caress of his claws on her flanks, her buttocks, drifting across the sensitive skin of her inner thighs to the soaking thatch of hair from behind. She could not disguise her reactions to claw-tipped fingers exploring her moist channel. Her stomach knotted, and her vaginal muscles clenched in a futile attempt to hold onto the slender, teasing digits.  
  
"Do you feel comfortable like this?" His voice was slightly harsh. This was affecting him as much as it was her.  
  
"Yes." Her own voice was raspy.  
  
The taiyoukai stared down at the sight laid out before him: the creamy curves of her buttocks, the dip above, the dimples at the base of her spine, the shallow indent bisecting her slender torso, the vulnerable nape exposed by the fall of hair tossed over one shoulder, the scent of musk, sex and jasmine.  
  
Kagome was inexperienced but she was not ignorant. She had heard enough from her girlfriends in the future, read enough forbidden books; there was no real taboo when it came to sex; if the parties involved consented. She knew she could pull away if she had to in this position; and conversely her lover could move more strongly. Fresh arousal jolted her raw nerves as she imagined how much more strongly he could take her. She bit her lip but was helpless to stifle the moan that escaped her.  
  
"Sess…"  
  
A soft growl broke the heated hush.  
  
She could not restrain the scream that escaped her lips. The force and angle of penetration plus her arousal was enough to send her over the top. Kagome could feel the heat burning in her veins, the energy screaming for release. This was worse than arousal left her feeling empty once she climaxed. This was a forest fire that demanded a climax she knew nothing about.  
  
Her nipples hardened to an extent she was in constant sensory overload teetering between pain and pleasure. She could feel the harsh raspy breath over the back of her neck. She could feel his need to taste her. Driven by feminine instinct she pushed herself off the ground. She gasped feeling the hardness inside shift stroking places and stimulating nerves she did not know she had. She could feel him. Inside. Pressing against her from within. If Kagome were the swooning kind of girl she probably would have fainted long before this point.  
  
"Sessh…" His name was hissed between clenched teeth.  
  
Instinct was driving her to a precipice she knew nothing about, to a point that terrified her more sensible side. She could feel him within her, behind her, around her, under her. She clenched her hands in the thick pelt cushioning her hands and knees.  
  
Sesshoumaru hissed at that sensory overload. He had never felt anything like this before, it was almost too much. He had never risked so much as he was right now. He could feel her ki, the power behind her miko energy, rising, building in the almost fragile form under him. Experience urged him to kill the potential threat. Blood ordered him to claim her, to be one with her.  
  
He sank his teeth into the open wound. His intellect knew he had to restrain himself. Kagome would not heal as fast as youkai without any scarring. His blood insisted he make her his.  
  
Kagome moaned. She wanted to move but her muscles refused to respond to her commands. She was teetering between pleasure and pain, satisfaction and hunger, on her hands and knees filled by him. She could feel his pulse between her legs but she couldn't move! She had to do something. She wanted to do something for Sess. He had literally ripped her pre-conceptions apart and shown her a world she liked, a world where she was free to love with every bit of her body and soul. She wanted to give him what no other could.  
  
A blaze of purple-pink light surged from her hands into the pelt staining the material a silver tinted lilac.  
  
For an instant he panicked. Instinct and experience told him this was miko energy, ki that purified, destroyed youkai. It would destroy his youkino; but it didn't; purify and destroy him that is. Sesshoumaru hissed as he felt the tendrils of ki weave through the youki of his youkino. He could feel the different energy twist around his own, forming a protective sheath for his own. Sesshoumaru knew he was armored against most other taiyoukais and mikos. Only one more powerful than Kagome, the Shikon miko could break the protection. He wanted to do the same for her.  
  
Kagome could not resist the smile that curved her lips at the new sensations. She could feel the dark energy of his youki wrapping around her, literally armoring her like she had done for him. Arms that would be forever wrapped about her, shielding her from the world, giving her strength, confidence, reassurance. She wanted to give him more. Kagome was a very loving girl who cared a great deal for the people around her. She did not want anything to detract from his happiness.  
  
I wish…  
  
He could feel the near limitless depths of energy still flowing out. She was trying to do something. But what?  
  
He felt a fire blossom and grow in his shoulder, down towards the stump of his left arm. He could feel the energy twisting the weave of the youkino, and with it his humanoid form. He hissed. What was she thinking?!  
  
Before his incredulous gaze flesh and bone grew forming an elbow, lower arm, wrist, palm, then fingers. It was identical in every fashion to his original arm from the maroon tattoos marking the wrist to the angle at which the claws curved.  
  
The shock was enough to distract him. He lost control and came in hard, violent jerks.  
  
Kagome cried out in protest. She still needed. She heard the soothing murmur and felt the slim fingers manipulate her clit so she came hard and fast, spasming around him. Her muscles unlocked and she sagged utterly exhausted. She would have fallen flat on her face if it hadn't been for his quick reactions.   
  
She was vaguely aware of two clawed hands hold her shoulders and gently lower her to the soft fur. The warm sticky fluids between her thighs. The heavy scent of flowers and musk in the moist air. The ache permeating her body though it was concentrated at her crotch. The sense of utter and complete satisfaction and absolute rightness.  
  
"I love you Maru." Incomprehensible murmurs. A clawed hand raking her hair back. The welcoming darkness of sleep.  
  
Sesshoumaru stared down at the slumbering form before him even as his newly formed hand raked the sweat soaked tresses away from her flushed face. He had so many questions. How this happened, he did not know. But he wanted to know; what had happened, what would happen.  
  
He remembered her last words spoken in almost child-like tones. 'I love you Maru'.  
  
His mother used to say that before leaving, a private farewell between a mother and son who loved each other dearly. She was the only source of affection from his childhood. She looked after the household while his sire spent days away looking after the lands. The only time she didn't make her farewells was when she was ambushed by a pack of lesser youkai. She died protecting him but she never had the chance to say goodbye. He never had the chance to tell her how much he loved her.  
  
A surge of protectiveness came to the forefront. He was not going to let anything happen to Kagome. He lay down behind her, wrapping himself about her. No one was going to take this piece of his soul away from him.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
TBC...  
  
===========================================================  
  
AN: Wow! Was that hot or what?  
  
Please review, no flames though..  
  
--Sarhea 


	5. Ignoring Skepticism

NOTE: Definitely AU. Some episode spoilers. Sango has joined the group. They've met Rin, Sesshoumaru's ward. Things are tense between InuYasha and Sesshoumaru. Naraku is still on the loose.  
  
NOTE: I've used japanese and english terms intermittantly. I'll probably post a glossary or reedit the file some point in the future but right now I'm impatient to get the fic up for reviews so enjoy!!  
  
AN: Thank you for the reviews and again I apologize for making all of you wait for so long. Enjoy!!  
  
AN: How does everyone else react?  
  
===========================================================  
  
~*~ Ignoring Skepticism ~*~  
  
"Hey, Sango, is Kagome there? She hasn't made breakfast."  
  
The taijiki woke in a quick rush at InuYasha's shouted words and glanced around. Kirara and Shippo were still fast asleep. Kagome was not present. She probably woke up earlier to warm up. A small kernel of concern came to life. Quickly she dressed in her usual travelling clothes, a long green skirt, pink shawl and haori, before stepping out.  
  
"Kagome isn't here. Maybe she went exploring."  
  
"What an idiot!" InuYasha grumbled. "The bastard told us not to go into the caves. Looks like we have to go rescue her from her foolishness."  
  
Sango bridled at his description of her friend but held her tongue.  
  
"Wake Sesshoumaru," She replied evenly. "We'll need his help to search the tunnels."  
  
"He isn't here either." Miroku responded. The houshi had responded to the noise and moved to do a quick headcount. "Jaken and Rin are still sleeping though."  
  
InuYasha jumped to the quickest explanation that made sense to him.  
  
"I knew it! Sesshoumaru kidnapped Kagome!"  
  
"Don't be an idiot!" Sango replied glaring at the hanyou. "He would never leave Rin behind. He probably woke up earlier and went looking for Kagome."  
  
Miroku nodded solemnly as he wrapped a strip of cloth around a branch and lit it to make a torch. "I agree with Sango. I suggest we go look for them. They may be in trouble."  
  
Grumbling InuYasha conceded leading the way. Soon signs of Kagome's presence were easily identified.  
  
"The foolish wench went exploring." InuYasha noted touching the chalk marks.  
  
"At least she left signs for us to follow." Miroku pointed out.  
  
InuYasha sniffed. Wisteria blossoms, the scent of a distinctive poison claw attack. "Sesshoumaru passed through here."  
  
The three hurried until they entered the cavern that had enchanted Kagome.  
  
"Wow! This is gorgeous!" Sango murmured looking up at the patterns of refracted sunlight through crystal prisms dancing over the stone and pools of water.  
  
InuYasha stiffened as an unfamiliar scent drifted in the air. The mingled scents of two people – one who he hated, the other who he cared for a great deal. Wisteria dominating jasmine overlaying musk. An involuntary growl escaped InuYasha as he ran followed by the taijiki and the houshi.  
  
The three froze at the sight that greeted them.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Blue eyes opened as Kagome came to in a very unfamiliar situation, wrapped in the silken material of an unfamiliar haori, lying upon the soft pelt of a wolf-hound, pressed close against a hard male body. She shifted and winced at the unaccustomed soreness and sticky wetness between her legs.  
  
"Do you regret this?" A familiar silken murmur interrupted her thoughts.  
  
Sesshoumaru.  
  
"No." She responded just as honestly even as she turned to meet his golden gaze without flinching.  
  
Sesshoumaru felt the knot within him loosen at the love, acceptance and heating desire he could see in the blue eyes of the miko lying beside him. He sat up on his youkino brushing black strands away from her face. A soft contended sound as she leaned into his hand, into his touch, his caress even as she sat up to reach for him, to wrap her arms around his neck, to bring his face down to hers, to kiss.   
  
It was gentle and reassuring. It became heated and demanding. Kagome moaned softly when he lost control nipping the full lower curve of her mouth. Sesshoumaru reared back ashamed. Blue eyes flashed as she traced the red strips on his cheeks.  
  
"Don't!" She ordered sharply even as her hands moved to follow the mirrored red markings on his shoulders, arms, torso and hips, raising welts with her own nails. He winced at that small hint of pleasure-pain. It awoke memories of the night before. She smiled knowingly. "Don't feel you have to protect me Maru." She used the shortened name to remind him of their intimate relationship, of how it had been chosen as her name for him. The oversized haori slipped baring pale shoulders and the curves of her breasts. Gold eyes drifted over the enticing sight of full curves and pale skin marked by mouth and touch. "I wanted you then. I want you now. I think I will want you until the end of time." She confessed quickly.  
  
Sesshoumaru did not know what to say. He settled for showing her. Two strong arms wrapped around her holding her close. Two arms, another miracle of the previous night. Kagome somehow absorbed and channelled the energy from their mating into his youkino and regenerated the arm lost to Tetsaiga. He buried his face in the crook of her neck where shoulder met neck. Instinct urged him to bite, to sink his fangs in her pale flesh, to taste her sweet blood, to mark her as his.  
  
He had taken women before – it had always been casual arrangements for material benefits – but this was different. Kagome was the One. For the first time Sesshoumaru understood what could possibly have driven his father to take a ningen-hime for a second mate.  
  
Gold eyes flashed. He spoke in a low almost threatening growl as he tilted her chin up to meet his eyes.  
  
"You are mine. Now and forever."  
  
A flash of satisfaction in blue eyes that lowered demurely. "I am yours."  
  
His new hand explored the curve of her hip before slipping to the moist thatch of hair between her legs even as the other cupped the nape of her neck for a long intimate kiss.  
  
Both were so engrossed in their passion they were completely unaware of the three that formed an unwanted audience.  
  
  
  
Sango gaped at the sight. She blinked several times. Nope, still there. Kagome kissing a tall guy with long silvered hair. All she could see of her friend was the top of a black head and arms wrapped around the slim torso marked with a red vine design. The two were seated on a white pelt that looked very much like the fur Sesshoumaru always wore. But this guy couldn't be Sesshoumaru because this guy had two arms. Sesshoumaru lost one in a fight with InuYasha in their father's tomb.  
  
A low growl from InuYasha interrupted her distracted thoughts.  
  
"Sesshoumaru!" The hanyou charged.  
  
Kagome pulled away from her lover. Blue eyes dazed with passion before they iced. Her companion wrapped both arms around her protectively ready to push her to safety. Not that Kagome needed it.  
  
"Osuwari!"  
  
The sutra beads around the hanyou's neck glowed. InuYasha's face met stone with a loud thump leaving him dazed.  
  
Kagome swiftly adjusted the haori that came to mid thigh so it covered most of her before she started to rise to scream at InuYasha.  
  
Sango quickly decided to nip the rant in the bud.  
  
"Kagome, who is that?"  
  
Something stuck out. The haori Kagome wore had a distinctive design on the lapel and shoulder, red and white sakura flowers, just like the one Sesshoumaru wore. But this wasn't Sesshoumaru, was he?  
  
Kagome smiled. Sango could see the passion and yearning her friend felt had been sated, but by who? Kagome wasn't the kind of girl who fell in and out of love quickly. She was loyal…  
  
"Sesshoumaru?" Sango guessed. "But how? The arm…?"  
  
The silver-haired man rose securing the hakama he wore and turned.  
  
The familiar cool visage of the tai-youkai. Amber eyes slightly heated but controlled. Silvery locks slightly tousled. Three red strips on each cheek, a blue crescent on the forehead, red markings down the shoulders, biceps and fore arms, more markings about the pectorals and torso before disappearing into the waistband of the hakama.  
  
Surprisingly Miroku was the one who answered Sango's question.  
  
The houshi had been observing the body language of the two. The bond he had seen growing between the two had been formalized last night. Violet eyes noted Sesshoumaru had not formally marked Kagome but the bond between them was solid. He could see it in the subtle motions, in the way Kagome gave way to the tai-youkai at times without the heated protests she normally made. They were a couple now, One. He hadn't expected this. The two had been avoiding each other, fighting the attraction. Why did they give in last night of all nights? Miroku shrugged internally before speaking.  
  
"It is obvious Kagome and Sesshoumaru have bonded--."  
  
"He hasn't marked her!" InuYasha protested.  
  
Gold eyes flashed. Fangs gleamed in silent warning. Kagome laid a small hand to restrain the angry tai-youkai.  
  
Miroku coughed discreetly.  
  
"As I was saying, Kagome and Sesshoumaru have bonded. It is not a formal mating but it is serious, is it not?" Violet eyes were hard as they met gold without flinching.  
  
Sesshoumaru was impressed by the ningen's courage.  
  
"It is." He responded. "I do not intend to anger the other tai-youkai by presenting them with a done deal. It is better to give allies the illusion of having a say." Laughter gleamed in the typically solemn gold eyes. "Even when they do not."  
  
Miroku nodded solemnly. "True." He stared at the pair intrigued by the energy emitting from the two. "Kagome is a powerful miko but to do such a complex healing as regenerating a youkai arm..." Violet eyes widened when he realised something else. "You allowed her access to your heart!"  
  
Sango was shocked. "You melded with his youkino?!" She squeaked as she bounded over to make sure her friend was really okay. Brown eyes stared at the tai-youkai. "And you let her?!" She accused him. "Youkai always hide their youkino!"  
  
InuYasha was confused. What were they talking about? He was a youkai and he didn't know what the houshi and tajiki were talking about.  
  
Sesshoumaru shrugged as he wrapped one arm across Kagome's shoulders.  
  
Kagome blushed. She remembered how intensely personal and intimate the act had been. Kagome had explained that away as side effects of her miko powers. Was what she did really bad?  
  
"No." She started before she realised she had spoken the question out loud. "Just intensely personal." Sesshoumaru continued to explain softly. "Forming such a connection means accepting vulnerability. You could have easily destroyed me if you chose to."  
  
Kagome paled and buried her face in his bare chest. Her tremors slowed under the reassuring steady strokes of his touch.  
  
InuYasha grumbled but didn't speak. He knew better than to attack Sesshoumaru. Miroku and Sango were on Sesshoumaru's side and Kagome would 'sit' him.  
  
Of course it wasn't long before the awe on Sango and Miroku's parts faded and they began to worry about and for Kagome.  
  
"Sesshoumaru's enemies are going to attack you to hurt him." Sango warned.  
  
"That's nothing different," Kagome replied wryly. "Youkai attack me for the shards."  
  
Miroku was more concerned about the spiritual side effects.  
  
"You may loose control of your power. The mingling of miko and youkai powers is unprecedented."  
  
"I'll talk to Kaede-obaa-san." Kagome replied with a smile. "She will know how to handle any problems."  
  
That meant the Shikon shard hunting trip was cut short and group traveled back to their home base, Kaede's village.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Kaede listened to the explanation with neutrality that masked her awe. She'd had plenty of young women come to her for help with their lovers, husbands and family. Of course none of those young women were a miko with a tai-youkai lover.  
  
It took a great deal of control to still her blushes and patient insistence to get Kagome's stammered dreamy details about her feelings. And even more to drag the details from Sesshoumaru. In the end Kaede came to a conclusion.  
  
"This bond between Kagome and Sesshoumaru has been forged by some deity and fate. Neither one of them asked to be bound to who typically is the natural enemy. They didn't want to, or plan on falling in love with each other so don't take out your feelings on them. If you want to blame someone blame the Fates."  
  
This was directed towards InuYasha who hummphed before striding off.  
  
Rin was thrilled at the prospect of a new okaa-san.  
  
Shippo needed patient reassurance from Kagome that she would still look after him, that she still cared for him like her own pup. Their family was just going to get bigger: a powerful stepfather, a stepsister as a playmate, a grumbling pseudo-uncle nanny.  
  
After talking with all her friends and reassuring them that she wasn't crazy Kagome needed some reassurance of her own so she went to the only person she could trust to be objective: Kaede.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Kagome stared into the small altar fire of Kaede's hut. Sesshoumaru had left leaving Jaken and Rin; he had to send notice about his intent to the other powerful tai-youkai. He was determined not to repeat his father's mistake of insulting allies. The rest of the group were outside eating dinner near the communal fire.   
  
Kaede stared at the young miko with her one eye. She could see Kagome was struggling between the conflicting loves she felt for two brothers. She could see the younger girl come to a decision and relax noticeably before smiling at the older woman.  
  
"Kaede-obaa-chan?"  
  
Kaede threw a few twigs into the fire.  
  
"Yes Kagome-chan?"  
  
The younger woman spoke quickly. "I love him Kaede, I love Sesshoumaru. I care for InuYasha but not enough to make him happy by breaking things with his brother."  
  
Kaede smiled.  
  
"That is a very wise decision child. The Fates do not care for those who try to thwart their plans."  
  
Kagome nodded. "But what I feel for Sesshou… It is like a fire," the girl confessed softly. "I don't want to hide it, or cool it."  
  
"Then what is wrong?"  
  
Kagome blushed. "I feel guilty. I promised Okaa-san… I had sex before marriage."  
  
Kaede sighed before speaking. "Kagome, in a sense this bonding is marriage, two become one. Informal, but still marriage."  
  
"But--."  
  
"Don't fight it." Kaede interrupted with a smile. "You have no reason to feel ashamed. Ignore what others say. You are married – you have been married by Fate. You are going to be married by society very soon." Kaede chuckled drily. "Plenty of betrothed couples anticipate their vows."  
  
Kagome blushed hotly.  
  
"That's another thing." She whispered softly. "Sesshou wants to be married in a youkai ceremony."  
  
Kaede eyed her student carefully. "Do you have any problems with that?"  
  
Kagome sighed wistfully. "I wish my family could be here. My mother, I miss her so." Kagome blinked. "I won't be using the Bone Eaters well to return to the future. If I go back they will try to change my mind… But now, this is my time and place."  
  
Kaede nodded understanding Kagome's sorrow. "Grieve for the past but look to the future child." The miko spoke briskly. "Have you decided what you wish to wear for your wedding? Green is the traditional color for fertility…"  
  
The conversation turned to lighter matters.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
TBC...  
  
===========================================================  
  
AN: I made the tidbit about green being a marriage color. Does anyone know better?  
  
Please review, no flames though..  
  
--Sarhea 


	6. And Celebrated

NOTE: Definitely AU. Some episode spoilers. Sango has joined the group. They've met Rin, Sesshoumaru's ward. Things are tense between InuYasha and Sesshoumaru. Naraku is still on the loose.  
  
NOTE: I've used japanese and english terms intermittantly. I'll probably post a glossary or reedit the file some point in the future but right now I'm impatient to get the fic up for reviews so enjoy!!  
  
AN: Much later... how do some others handle it?  
  
===========================================================  
  
~*~ And Celebrated ~*~  
  
Kagome fidgeted as Sango and Kaede helped the female youkai servants adjust her wedding kimono - an elaborate arrangement of six layers of varying shades of green and gold-brown and designs of flowering vines. She huffed as Reika, a white usagi-youkai, arranged her hair into a bun secured by ivory skewers decorated with red tassels. By common consensus Kagome wore minimal makeup, the faintest dusting of rice powder and peach gloss.  
  
"You look wonderful my lady." Reika announced after a few seconds of fussing.  
  
"I must agree." Shinko, a chestnut kitsune, announced after arranging the layers of kimonos around Kagome's feet. "You are stunning. Sesshoumaru-sama won't know what hit him."  
  
All the females giggled at that thought. Kagome smiled faintly.   
  
"It is a distinct surprise though," Reika noted absently as she applied lacquer to arrange loose tendrils around Kagome's face. "Sesshoumaru-sama is difficult and he has very high standards. Many youkai have tried to get him as mate but failed abysmally. Everyone is curious about you."  
  
"Well they'll see me soon enough," Kagome responded wryly. "That is the purpose of hosting this formal ceremony, isn't it?"  
  
She was impatient to get the formalities over with. She had agreed to the week long separation required by youkai custom - their version of the groom not seeing the bride before the ceremony. It was almost a physical hurt being apart from him.  
  
"Yes." Reika giggled. "I tell you it was a great pleasure to tell the Great Lord Sesshoumaru that he was barred from his betrothed's rooms."  
  
Kagome winced. "I did not like that part. I miss him." She explained softly.  
  
The two youkai murmured reassurances.  
  
"Well it will be over soon enough," Shinko pointed out. "The last of the guests arrived an hour ago."  
  
Sango stared at her friend with mingled concern and pleasure.  
  
"Are you sure about this Kagome-chan?"  
  
"As I am of the sun and the moon." Kagome replied.  
  
Sango nodded her conscience satisfied. "Good. Now, what next?"  
  
Kagome obediently spoke. "Lord Hiroshi is performing the ceremony. He is a bear youkai and the Northern Lord, a good friend of Sesshou's father, InuTaisho. The ceremony is a formal acknowledgement of a mated couple by youkai society. When a youkai mates and doesn't have the ceremony it is taken as a gesture of contempt, that he doesn't consider his allies and peers important enough to witness the event. Lord InuTaisho angered many when he married InuYasha's mother in secret."  
  
"But what about the actual ceremony itself?" Sango persisted curious.  
  
Kagome shrugged. "I don't know. Youkai don't believe in rehearsals."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Sometime later all of Kagome's fears and concerns had faded.  
  
Reika and Shinko grasped the handles of the heavy teak doors.  
  
"Are you certain my lady?" They spoke in choral formal tones. "Are you certain that this path is what you desire?"  
  
Kagome was confused before she understood. She could feel the eyes of the female youkai guests behind her. Their male counterparts were in the Great Hall with Sesshoumaru waiting for her arrival.  
  
She could feel their fear, envy, curiosity and concern about the situation, a second Inu-lord taking a ningen, a miko no less, as wife. At least this one was doing things properly. The older mated females were more neutral in their preconceived impressions, the younger ones were angry and scornful. Kagome ignored them all.  
  
"I am." Kagome spoke evenly. All fears and second thoughts had faded leaving the path before her clearly illuminated.  
  
They pulled the doors open.  
  
"Then walk my lady... Approach your lord."  
  
  
  
Sesshoumaru broke off the conversation he was having with Lord Tamashi, an older, respected water youkai. He needed all the support he could muster to force them, if need be, to accept Kagome as his mate.  
  
Miroku broke off the conversation he was having with a serene forest youkai and turned to the main doors.  
  
InuYasha stopped sulking to turn to the doors as well. He hadn't intended to acknowledge Kagome's entrance but he couldn't help it, none of them could help it.  
  
Every single male in the room ceased their activities and moved to see what was drawing them so. Some were attracted by the picture of feminine beauty. Others were drawn by the strength she exuded. All acknowledged the potential she possessed in power, pure unrestrained power… Power that could destroy and create, heal and kill, power that could shift the balance and change the world.  
  
Sesshoumaru wasn't just claiming a miko; he was claiming the Protector of the Shikon no Tama.  
  
"Midoriko." Someone hissed.   
  
Blue eyes flashed. Kagome did not like being compared to anyone. She had enough of being compared to Kikyo from InuYasha.  
  
Everyone tensed at the spike of power and the mention of the legendary miko who had fought and defeated armies of youkai.  
  
Hiroshi hid a smile at the consternation. It was time for a change anyway.  
  
Kagome ground down the nervous desire to generate an aura to keep the youkai at bay; Sesshoumaru was here, he would protect her if they attacked her. Keeping that thought in her mind she moved gracefully towards the middle of the room where Sesshoumaru stood waiting, a picture of masculine beauty in the midnight blue and red kimonos decorated with white sakura flowers.  
  
Her eyes were caught and enmeshed with his. She was not aware of the females entering the Great Hall, of the intricate dance that ensued as the guests arranged themselves in rings and sectors indicating alliances and loyalties. All Kagome could see was Sesshoumaru - he was her entire world.  
  
Sango kept a tight grip on Shippo who was fidgeting. Kaede mimicked her action with Rin who looked as though she was going to start running about. Miroku stood a discreet distance from InuYasha though his attention was on the event taking place before his eyes - the formal mating of a tai-youkai and a miko. A few youkai had refused to witness the ceremony when they discovered the identity of the bride and her party.  
  
Kagome came to a stop before Sesshoumaru and held out her hands palm up. The Inu-youkai responded placing his hands in hers  
  
Hiroshi shook out his formal green and red kimono before clearing his throat as he glanced around the Great Hall.  
  
"Sesshoumaru, Tai-youkai of the Western Lands has made his Choice. Does anyone present object?"  
  
The words were spoken formally. Hiroshi did not expect real objection.  
  
"I object!" Everyone turned to the neko-youkai, Lady Sakiko. She had been an ardent candidate for the position Lady of the Western Lands. "Why should we accept this ningen as one of us?" She cried as she looked about looking for supporters. She found it in the younger youkai. Sesshoumaru growled. Kagome squeezed his hands to keep him from attacking Sakiko, to remind him he did not have to fight all his battles. "She must have cast some spell to seduce Sesshoumaru-sama."  
  
Kagome flushed then paled at the accusation, the scorn. Sesshoumaru stiffened, anger icing gold eyes. Kagome tightened her grip on him. She did not want him to attack the neko-youkai Sakiko and make things worse.  
  
The murmurs began slow but steady. Objection to the proposed mating. A chuckle broke the angry atmosphere. It was the water-youkai Tamashi.  
  
"Children." The word held affection and scorn. "You have forgotten our history, scorned the past as useless…" The pale blue eyes of the indigo skinned youkai moved meeting the eyes of the dissenters. "It's in the blood." Tamashi spoke the words with knowing emphasis. "It's always blood. Blood calls to blood, denying that is like denying you are youkai."  
  
"Then kill her!" Sakiko hissed. "Kill the miko like her kind kill us!"  
  
Kagome's blue eyes flashed. "I do not kill youkai without reason - those who attack me or defenseless ningen or youkai alike do not deserve a second chance!" She responded in cold even tones. "Why should I kill those who acknowledge my power and stay away?"  
  
Murmurs of acknowledgement and support. This miko had never slaughtered wantonly; in fact she restrained her companions to hear both sides of the story before acting. In fact she adopted a kitsune a few years ago and formed an alliance - that had turned to a bonding - with the tai-youkai Sesshoumaru.  
  
"You don't deserve him!" Sakiko hissed defiantly. "You are a ningen! You will die in less than eight score years! Any kits you bear will be hanyou!"  
  
Strangely enough this time it was Sesshoumaru who spoke.  
  
"You are wrong Lady Sakiko; it is I who do not deserve her. But I am not so much of a fool to deny a gift from the Gods."  
  
Tamashi spoke increduously. "Die? Die?!" He broke into guffaws of laughter.  
  
His partner Lady Yuri, a nine-tailed kitsune, hit him with her closed fan.  
  
"Don't laugh at the young ones Tama, it has been eons since Blood called to Blood. They don't know anything about such a mating." The water youkai just laughed harder. Yuri sighed and spoke to Sakiko though her words were heard by all. "Just watch Sakiko, watch and learn how our kind really gains power."  
  
Everyone stopped at the last word. Mating with a ningen miko gives power? Yuri caught the speculating looks and cut the thoughts short.  
  
"It does not come from joining the material form," She warned them sternly. "It comes from joining with your fates-given partner. Very few ever meet, or realize when they do, what ningen call soul-mate."  
  
Everyone subsided at that explanation. The miko Kagome and the tai-youkai Sesshoumaru were soul-mates. They could understand Lady Yuri's explanation now. Who on earth could expect a miko and a tai-youkai to become allies and find out they are soul-mates?  
  
The ceremony proceeded without any hitches. It was a simple affair. After exchanging verbal vows of loyalty, protection, and affection came the final step - the blood bond.  
  
"Watch and learn girl!" Yuri murmured eyes intent on the couple.  
  
Sesshoumaru scored his right palm with a claw. Bright red liquid welled up in a line. He ignored the growl from InuYasha as he repeated the action on Kagome's palm. Kagome did not flinch from the small pain; her entire focus was on her soon-to-be mate.  
  
The bear youkai glanced at the couple standing before him; their attention was exclusively on each other. He could feel the aura of power building, the tendrils of ki reaching out to make two one. Soon the young ones would witness how youkai once Created power instead of stealing and destroying stronger opponents.  
  
He took both their hands and spoke in formal choral tones as he moved them so mere centimeters separated their palms.  
  
"Blood calls to Blood, as Power calls to Power,"  
  
A single drop of blood hit the open cut below. Everyone felt the audible hum of power building. A few disbelievers hissed.  
  
"As Light calls to Dark, as Order calls to Chaos. Witness! Witness these two become One."  
  
At the last word Hiroshi pressed the two palms together.  
  
The moment skin touched skin, or more accurately blood touched blood, the charged energy peaked. Sparks of light and raw energy crackled around the two in a coruscating halo of colors and lightening. The halo continued to build exponentially until it enveloped the couple with a light haze.  
  
"Where is it coming from?" Someone asked the question on everyones mind.  
  
Kaede sighed. "From them. From Sesshoumaru-sama and Kagome-chan."  
  
"But how?" Sakiko was frustrated and angry. "He hasn't even tapped into his youkino. That energy is not youki or miko-ki!"  
  
"It is raw power." Yuri responded impatiently, like a teacher would with slow pupils. "When two souls meant for each other join they complete each other. Together they can do feats that they never could have done before when apart."  
  
Miroku coughed discreetly.  
  
"I understand a few of you challenged Sesshoumaru-sama to present the Tetsaiga as proof of his intent to hold what his?" Several youkai flinched, coughed, and looked away shamefaced. "I trust that is not necessary now?" Miroku spoke delicately indicating the cocoon of raw power. "I am not certain of what is happening but from what I understand Sesshoumaru-sama and Kagome-sama will come out far more powerful than they were before…" His words trailed off knowingly.  
  
The leader of the faction to make the challenge spoke quickly.  
  
"There is no need for him to recover Tetsaiga. Lady Yuri and Lord Tamashi both say Lord Sesshoumaru will emerge more powerful. That will make up for what power Tetsaiga would have given him."  
  
InuYasha huffed and opened his mouth to speak. Kaede elbowed him.  
  
"Look! The aura! It's subsiding!" Some lady cried out.  
  
And it was. The cocoon spun itself into five ropes that drove into the marble tiles, scorching them black. The other ends went into the people within; two into him, two into her, the last wrapping around them both before sinking beneath skin. After several minutes the last of the static sparks faded as the energy sank into the ground or the couple. The coruscating haze faded allowing everyone to see and be shocked.   
  
Sesshoumaru was the first to turn to the witnesses. There were few visible changes on the tai-youkai; a relaxed quality that permeated his posture and visage, a sardonic quirk lifting one corner of typically tightly pressed lips, a knowing light in amber eyes. The most obvious changes were two tattoos on the back of each wrist. Every youkai present had initially accepted the invitation to see the 'miracle': Sesshoumaru regrowing his left arm in less than a day. The tattoos were part of him like natural youki markings. A red teardrop on the back of one wrist, an inverted green teardrop on the back of the other.  
  
The change in the miko was far more dramatic. Her heart-shaped face was youkai - three thin red streaks parallel to the cheekbone on both sides of her face - mirroring those on her new mate. The mark on her forehead was not a crescent or blue, but a green quartered circle representing earth. Any other physical changes were hidden by layers of silk and brocade. It was clear Kagome was not entirely youkai but no one could say she was 'just a ningen'. There was a sense of otherworldly power about her that made the younger, less experienced youkai shy away from her. This power was Goddess-given to Her chosen few.  
  
Lady Yuri was the first to recover her wits. She stepped up to the couple and clasped a hand from each. She felt the power pulse from Him to Her, through her own body and then back again. The sensation was intoxicating. She smiled at both of them.  
  
"Congratulations Sesshoumaru, Kagome."  
  
Kagome smiled shyly feeling slightly embarrassed. This nice lady youkai was congratulating her and she couldn't focus on anything other than the heat between her thighs, the yearning for her new mate.  
  
Yuri smiled knowingly as she caught scent of desire from the Mother's latest daughter. She couldn't help giggling.  
  
"Go ahead you two. From what I've seen no one will be able to get a word of sense out of the both of you for a few hours."  
  
Kagome smiled gratefully at the older youkai and glanced up at amber eyes. She bit her lip as fresh desire surged in her veins at the matching heat she glimpsed in his eyes.  
  
Without a word the two turned and left through one of the many minor doors into the Great Hall. They did not respond to queries or congratulations and the memory of the coruscating aura was enough to keep well-wishers a safe distance away.  
  
"Feh! How rude!" InuYasha grumbled. He was not happy with Kagome mating with his half-brother.  
  
Sango smacked the back of his head for her best friend.  
  
"Shut up InuYasha." She turned to Kaede who was smiling faintly. "Why did they leave? Don't youkai have a reception after the ceremony?"  
  
It was Hiroshi, the bear-youkai, who answered her.  
  
"Typically yes. However in this case it is better to wait until the next dawn to have the reception."  
  
Sango was confused. "But why?"  
  
"Sesshoumaru's gonna fuck her." InuYasha pointed out crudely. Sango moved to hit him when Lady Yuri spoke.  
  
"Actually yes," The kitsune replied blandly. InuYasha's face twisted with distaste at the thought of his brother and Kagome. The cave was bad enough but this was worse. Yuri ignored his expression and continued. "An average youkai mating has the mingling-of-blood ritual but few matings have an outcome as dramatic as this."  
  
"What do you mean Lady Yuri?" Miroku inquired in scholarly tones.  
  
Yuri explained. "Typically, the blood exchange is purely ceremonial. If there is any minor, latent compatibility there has to be an elaborate ritual to draw the thin threads of connection between the two to the surface. In the old days families would test potential couples for compatibility before proposing an actual mating ceremony that binds the two." She waved indicating the scorched pentagram-circle in the white marble. "This compatibility is not delicate or fragile. The bonds between them were like ropes. The mating ceremony made that connection into chains."  
  
Sango frowned. "I don't like the sound of that. Chains?"  
  
Kaede shook her head. "Sango-child, chains work both ways. Sesshoumaru is chained to Kagome as she is to him. And they both want it."  
  
"But what if he hurts her?!"   
  
"Then he hurts himself." Yuri responded to the concern with patience. "They are One, body and mind, heart and soul."  
  
Sango bit her lip and nodded. She still didn't understand what was going on but if Kagome was happy she was happy.  
  
Several youkai stiffened and turned almost in unison.  
  
"What is it?" Miroku asked concerned.  
  
"Flowers." A female tiger-youkai spoke in wondering tones. "The scent of fresh blossoms."  
  
"Jasmine." Someone else noted.  
  
"And roses." Another added.  
  
Curious the crowd moved out of the Great Hall to the terrace that opened to the landscaped gardens of the Western Lands Manor.  
  
Miroku glanced up at the clear night sky. For some reason the stars seemed brighter this night. The crescent moon gleamed silver.  
  
"The moon glows." He noted.  
  
"Yes. The power of the Inu-clan grows as well." Tamashi noted sedately as he settled onto one of the many stone benches placed near reflecting ponds, bridges, bowers and sculptures.   
  
The water-youkai had chosen one that gave him a clear view of a small detached building made of rose granite and roofed by green glazed clay tiles. It was a small structure, a guest house for important or respected visitors, designed to grant the occupant privacy and serenity. The lower walls were covered with lush green creepers, windows shaded by verdant shrubs and trees, the decorative moat populated by lilies and other water plants. The water-youkai waited expectantly, almost amused.  
  
After several long minutes the rose granite walls began to shimmer. The tiny crystals in the stones reflected light that seemed to glow from within, from behind the dense opaque blocks. Before their eyes trees burst into fresh bud and bloom releasing an intoxicating medley of fragrance that seduced the watchers.  
  
"What's happening?" Sango asked feeling slightly scared.  
  
"The land is celebrating, it is being renewed by the presence of such a powerful soul-bonded pair." Hiroshi explained in soft tones.  
  
InuYasha made a noise of disdain that was ignored.  
  
"Where is the glow coming from?" Miroku asked.  
  
"The stones are absorbing the excess power from their coupling." Yuri explained with a sly smile.  
  
"Tantra?" Miroku inquired without a quaver.   
  
Yuri was impressed. "Yes. A very old and primitive form of sex magick. It was from watching the benefits and effects of a soul-bonded couple that ningen started the practice of spring fertility and autumn harvest sacrifice festivals."  
  
The unmistakable cry of feminine release gained from pleasure broke the still night.  
  
Everyone stiffened. Some with jealousy and discomfort while others sighed in envy.   
  
The sound of unmistakable masculine laughter followed mingled with Kagome's loud, verbal reprimands that were subsumed by her own pleasure and joy.  
  
Something broke in InuYasha. Until now he had hopes that Kagome would change her mind, that she would come to her senses and reject Sesshoumaru. That fragile hope was crushed due to his own actions. If only he had claimed her from the start…  
  
"It is done." Yuri nodded, satisfied with events. "Come. Let us celebrate the arrival of the new Lady of the Western Lands."  
  
Briskly she gave orders waving. The crowd obeyed this matriarch without protest. Lady Yuri supported the new Lady of the Western Lands as many other powerful tai-youkai. Protesting now would only result in losing face and allies.  
  
Sango sighed softly as she remembered Kagome's secret confidences. Would she ever find someone that would make her feel the say Kagome feels about Sesshoumaru? She hoped so. She did not want to be alone for the rest of her life. She glanced at Miroku through lowered lashes. Yes, he was a letch and pervert, but sometimes… Sango sighed. Maybe Kagome could help her figure out what exactly she felt about Miroku.  
  
Miroku noticed that veiled glance though he gave no sign of it. He glanced at the sutra beads that sealed the Wind Tunnel curse in his left palm. He had always known he was living on borrowed time, that the curse would consume him one day, just as it did his father. Miroku had no desire to leave a grieving widow behind. But now there was hope; surely Kagome and Sesshoumaru could defeat Naraku if they worked together. Miroku had sensed the unity in the couple, a unity that made him believe, to have hope that one day soon Naraku would be defeated. Then perhaps he could have that talk with Sango.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
TBC...  
  
===========================================================  
  
AN: Next chapter will definitely be hot. Wait and see!!  
  
Please review, no flames though..  
  
--Sarhea 


	7. With Love

NOTE: Definitely AU. Some episode spoilers. Sango has joined the group. They've met Rin, Sesshoumaru's ward. Things are tense between InuYasha and Sesshoumaru. Naraku is still on the loose.  
  
NOTE: I've used japanese and english terms intermittantly. I'll probably post a glossary or reedit the file some point in the future but right now I'm impatient to get the fic up for reviews so enjoy!!  
  
AN: WARNING!! WARNING!! Smut Alert. The wedding night  
  
===========================================================  
  
~*~ With Love ~*~  
  
Sesshoumaru stifled the urge to pick up his mate and run. It wouldn't do for the Great Lord of the Western Lands to display such haste. His blood was boiling with the urge to take his new mate, to take her time and time again until he was imprinted in her body as he was in her soul. The coppery taste of blood filled his mouth. He felt her hand tighten around his. He glanced down at her concerned and his breath caught at the answering heat in her blue eyes.  
  
"I feel the same way," Kagome whispered softly.  
  
And she did. She could feel her thighs moving slickly against each other from her own wetness. Pink suffused her face. A soft involuntary moan escaped her lips at the surge of sensation from between her legs.  
  
Amber eyes heated as the scent of her overcame the layers of scented fabric and overcame his control. Once they were on the terrace away from prying eyes, he picked her up wrapping one arm under her shoulders and the other behind her knees and ran at full speed, without a word of warning. One jump and they were on the balcony of the main bedroom of the guest-house. Hiroshi had insisted on it saying the formal blood mating of soul-bonded could be quite dramatic and destructive. Sesshoumaru did not understand what the bear-youkai had meant but felt that he was going to find out. If he could maintain enough control to keep from going totally feral and hurting Kagome... Somehow she sensed his worries.  
  
A small hand cupped his cheek as moist lips parted to whisper into one pointed ear.  
  
"Don't control yourself," she hissed. It was no lie; her heart beat fast but steady. "I want you Maru. All of you!" It was a demand, a statement of possessive claim. In other circumstances Sesshoumaru would respond with disdain iced with cool hauteur, but not here. His blood burned at the silent threat, the promise of pain-edged pleasure from that oh-so-prim mouth. Heat slipped into cool gold eyes.  
  
"And I want all of you Kagome." He hissed her name silkily emphasizing each syllable.  
  
Kagome shivered and clenched her hand in the silvery hair as he allowed her feet to touch the floor. She swayed unable to control her body; every nerve ached for the sensation of him, his touch, his scent, his voice, his taste. She moaned.  
  
A knowing gleam entered the much loved amber eyes.  
  
"You want me."  
  
She hissed angrily, very much like a wet cat.  
  
"Yessss."  
  
Her pride demanded she make a stand but her body rebelled. She made no move to hinder the experienced hands that stripped every bit of clothing and adornment from her. A soft sigh escaped her lips as he removed the ivory combs holding her hair. Black tresses spilled over creamy shoulders and down her slim back. She moaned as he lightly brushed the back of his hands over her breasts. Fire burned from the sensitive aureoles to the damp, fragrant place between her thighs. She swayed involuntarily towards him.  
  
Unable to resist he bent down and captured her mouth with his weaving the fingers of one hand in long black hair at the nape of her neck. She moaned even as the strong fingers massaged her scalp deftly as he maneuvered her into the room. She was only aware of the taste of him on her lips and the spicy scent of him surrounding her.  
  
Her knees hit the edge of the raised bed and she fell backwards atop the cotton coverlets.  
  
He stopped at the seductive sight of her sprawled before him, breasts heaving, the dilated heated blue eyes, the aroma of her desire drifting from the dark triangle at the top of her legs. Sesshoumaru had to restrain the instinct to pounce on her.  
  
Her breath caught in her throat at the tension. Slowly she raised herself up on her elbows, arching towards him, shifting her thighs apart. A sultry gleam darkened blue eyes as Kagome gave into a small demanding voice. Her breath caught as she caressed breasts, pinching, teasing the rose peaks. She shifted at the sensation, satisfying but not as much as the ones from his touch.  
  
Sesshoumaru stilled entranced at the sight of Kagome pleasuring herself. Then jealousy struck. Without care he discarded the pelt across one shoulder and the layers of kimonos and pounced. One hand tilting her head up to his hard, possessive kiss. She responded to it wholeheartedly, abandoning her self-pleasure to wrap her arms around his neck. The other hand wandered down the slim lithe body to where he longed to be.  
  
Two long fingers parted the slick sensitive lips shielding her core and slipped into the hot silken channel. He hissed as her inner muscles tightened around his fingers. His cock hardened at the thought of being inside her. He had spent several nights with her in a futile attempt to sate himself on his body; each morning he woke, his body still humming with the desire to possess her anew.  
  
Kagome arched whimpering as he lifted his mouth from hers. Dazed blue eyes opened seeking reassurance of his continued need of her.  
  
"Cum for me," he ordered her in familiar silken tones. The sharp edge of his claw ran over the sensitive nubbin of tissue above the clenching opening.   
  
Black pupils dilated until they were surrounded by a thin ring of blue. All she was aware of was the building sensation between her thighs. She tightened her legs around his hand in a futile attempt to make him stop, to catch her breath, to allow her body to respond to the desire. He didn't let up. He dragged her response from her willing body, every breath, every moan, every gasp, every cry, every spasm, every arch, every motion. He watched her fall over the edge time and time again, muscles clenching from the overly sensitized nerve-endings. His hand was covered with her fluids. Carefully he removed the fingers from the spasming channel and sniffed the fingers; flowers, fruits and musk. Experimentally he licked the moisture; salty with a citrusy flavor.  
  
Blue eyes followed his actions. Strangely it did not embarrass her - youkai were more in touch with their animalistic desires and felt no shame or desire to hide. Kagome reveled in the freedom to show what she felt. She reached out and brought his hand to her mouth and proceeded to lick her fluids from his fingers. She felt him stiffen then relax to enjoy the sensations from her actions. When she was finished she placed that hand against her heart sandwiching it between her torso and hands.  
  
Her eyes were gentle as she met his heated gaze. He had taken the edge off her desire but her blood still yearned for him.  
  
"Take me." Her voice was husky with desire she made no attempt to hide.  
  
The flames came to life. A deft move and the hakama slipped to the floor. Without hesitation he knelt between her thighs and came down upon her bracing on hands planted on the sheets on either side of her head.   
  
Kagome hissed as she felt his hardness penetrate the moist warmth between her thighs. It hurt, in a good way. She welcomed the pain of stretched tissue and pulled muscles as her body strained to accommodate his. She closed her eyes and reveled in the sensation; the hard thrust of his body against her, within her. The tension built as though she hadn't climaxed just minutes before.  
  
Blue eyes opened. She could see the solid leash Sesshoumaru had on his instincts. The slight tremor, the clenching of his jaw, the faint glow under his skin. Anger overrode the pleasure. Who was he to have all the control? An angry hiss escaped clenched teeth as Kagome reached up and twisted one hand in platinum tresses. Without compunction she pulled, dragging his face down to the mattress.  
  
Sesshoumaru hissed at the pain. He managed to avoid smashing his chin on her forehead. The scent of jasmine rose from the cloud of raven hair infusing his sense of smell.  
  
Kagome didn't think twice about her action. Sharp white teeth sank into the smoothly muscled ivory flesh above his collarbone.  
  
A sharp insignificant hurt at his shoulder. The feel of teeth clenching into his shoulder, sucking to taste blood and sweat. An oval face looking up at him with feral demand, blue eyes glittering with challenge, red staining the full mouth. The tip of a pink tongue darting out to swallow the blood she had drawn.  
  
Sesshoumaru lost control.  
  
All she was aware of was the reality of his cock in her sheath, his hips against hers, the thrusts between her thighs, the edged pain of fangs and claws drawing blood, the strength in the slim hands that held her down and open to him long after she was more than ready to curl into a fetal ball or faint. He pushed her senses well past their limits but for some reason he did not want her to climax, not yet... He wanted her to scream for him.  
  
Kagome was faintly aware of a haze around the bed. A haze that expanded from his markings, new and old, from her own facial markings. It reminded her of the miko purifying energy that surged from her when she was threatened. But this was different, she wanted him to lose control, to take her like a bitch, like his bitch.  
  
As though he read her mind the tai-youkai pulled out of her and rolled her onto her stomach. Her soft cry of protest was ignored as he raised her hips up tucking her knees underneath her. Her attempts to raise herself were stopped by the weight of his hand between her shoulder blades. Before she could string together a coherent protest he was within her.   
  
All thoughts were driven out of her mind by the sensation of the long thick cock pistoning into her, the slap of his balls against her, the abrasion of her nipples against the sheets. Her nails dug into the cotton sheets. She wanted to draw blood, his blood. Her teeth sank into her full lower lip. It wasn't enough.  
  
Sharp fangs sank into her shoulder. Kagome screamed as every nerve ignited. Her body betrayed her going into a series of convulsions. She felt him lose control of his own body slumping heavily against her, trapping her under his body. She did not mind.  
  
Sesshoumaru tried to brace himself off her but failed. His body was trembling. He couldn't believe it. He, a blooded tai-youkai, was utterly exhausted after one bout with his new mate, a ningen miko who had matched him every step of the way. He tried to move off her. The soft sounds of protest stopped him. Some shifting resulted in them spooning, Kagome's back pressed against his front.  
  
"If it is going to be like this every night I'm not going to last a month. I'm going to have to sleep in every morning just to recover."  
  
Sesshoumaru couldn't help it. He laughed.  
  
Kagome turned in his embrace. He was laughing at her inexperience. Incensed, she hit him with a clenched fist.  
  
"Stop that baka! You sound like a buffoon!"  
  
He just kept laughing. It had been so long since Sesshoumaru had felt a humorous response he felt secure in displaying.  
  
"Maru! Stop laughing baka!"  
  
It didn't stop him. After a few seconds Kagome could see the untainted honest humor in the golden eyes.  
  
"Oh all right! Keep laughing!" Kagome grumbled angrily.  
  
The guffaws subsided into chuckles that died out as he wrapped his arms about her to trap her securely against him, within the protection of his embrace before falling asleep.  
  
"Gods, I'm going to be so sore tomorrow!" Kagome wailed as she winced shifting slightly.  
  
He opened one eye. "You shouldn't have bit me." He replied in soft slightly ragged tones. Sesshoumaru was having a hard time believing the reality: he lost control, hurt his mate taking her as his instincts demanded, and she wasn't screaming. Unconsciously his hand stroked her sweat soaked hair running clawed fingers through the tangled tresses. After some seconds he stilled. "Promise me you will never leave."  
  
"I won't."  
  
He resumed his caresses but she could still feel the reserve. Kagome could almost hear the sounds of doors slamming and barriers coming up. She twisted in his embrace and cupped his face in both hands to force him to meet her gaze.  
  
"I love you Maru-chan. I will never leave you. There is nothing you can do that will scare me or make me hate you."  
  
He blinked a few times as he absorbed her words before wrapping his form around her, fitting her against him, under him.   
  
Kagome sighed at the reassuring sound of his heartbeat under her ear, the warmth of the hard body against and around hers and allowed herself to sleep. She was with Sesshoumaru, her husband, nothing could hurt her.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
TBC...  
  
===========================================================  
  
AN: And now what? Wait and see...  
  
Please review, no flames though..  
  
--Sarhea 


	8. The Outcome of Choices

NOTE: Definitely AU. Some episode spoilers. Sango has joined the group. They've met Rin, Sesshoumaru's ward. Things are tense between InuYasha and Sesshoumaru. Naraku is still on the loose.  
  
NOTE: I've used japanese and english terms intermittantly. I'll probably post a glossary or reedit the file some point in the future but right now I'm impatient to get the fic up for reviews so enjoy!!  
  
AN: Last Chapter. Sort of Epilogue.  
  
===========================================================  
  
~*~ The Outcome of Choices ~*~  
  
Naru Hiragushi absently wrung the dish towel in her hands. Her heart told her that her daughter was safe, that she was alive and well in the past but her intellect insisted she had to be dead. Why else would Kagome have been gone for so long? Yes she spent a great deal of time hunting shards of that mystical jewel in the Feudal Era but she always visited occasionally to stack up on instant ramen. It had been two months now.  
  
Souta Hiragushi eyed his mother nervously. At first he thought it was cool, having a sister who traveled to the past, was friends with an inu-youkai, a houshi, a kitsune, and a tajiki and had adventures and stuff but now… Souta was worried about his mother. She spent a great deal of time doing household chores and cooking oden, Kagome's favourite dish, 'Just in case she came home'.  
  
"Okaa-san?"  
  
Naru brought her attention to the now. "Yes Souta-chan?"  
  
"I forgot to tell you but you got a phone call when you were out shopping."  
  
The older woman paled. Was it…?   
  
"It was from a Kaimaru Mahasaki." Souta wrinkled his nose as he pronounced the name slowly. "He said he would be visiting the shrine tomorrow. Who is he okaa-san?"  
  
Naru Hiragushi's brown eyes widened in mingled pleasure and alarm. "Mahasaki-san is a very wealthy business man Souta-chan. When your father died for a time it was difficult to pay the taxes and maintain the shrine. I was afraid I would have to sell it when Mahasaki-san offered to help maintain the estate. He said the expense would count as a tax benefit for him."  
  
Souta's eyes widened. "Why didn't you tell any of us mum?!"  
  
Naru shrugged. "What could any of you do Souta? Nothing. Mahasaki-san has been a gracious benefactor. If he wishes to visit the shrine he can visit the shrine." She spoke in an iron-clad 'is-that-clear' tone that no one would dare to challenge. Then her expression relaxed into panic. "Oh dear, I have so much of cleaning to do."   
  
With the experience and verve of a four-star general the Hiragushi matriarch set about assigning cleaning chores to the shrine residents. The two males groaned but obeyed without question.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Several miles away a slim female pulled away from the reassuring male embrace and sat up in a huge king sized bed before throwing her legs over the side and standing up clad in a short silk nightshirt. Her bedmate did not speak immediately. He knew what was bothering her; a side-effect of being bonded then formally mated for so long.  
  
"What is it koishii?" He asked the question to get her talking. He had learned this technique from her.  
  
"I am afraid Maru," she whispered as she pulled a scrap book from a dresser drawer and flipped through the pages.  
  
Photos, report cards, newspaper articles, descriptions, conversation transcripts. She had studied and handled each one so many times she practically knew the information by heart despite distance and the passage of time.  
  
She turned to him her eyes bright with tears. "Will they hate me? For choosing to remain silent for so long?"  
  
Her lover merely smiled and shook his head before raking back long locks of hair, the one vanity that he refused to concede to modern trends, as he rose from the bed clad in just a pair of silk draw-string pants.  
  
He gave the concern some thought. "They may be mad at first but they will listen and understand. They love you koi. If they didn't they never would have allowed you to leave home and travel in the first place."  
  
She bit her lip drawing blood.  
  
"But I'm late." She whimpered. "I let them worry for weeks now without any notice of my well-being."  
  
"And you have a valid excuse." He countered sternly grabbing her shoulders in both hands. "You have a very good excuse that will thrill any loving mother."  
  
With that he brought his head down kissing her harshly, lingeringly, deeply.  
  
A soft moan escaped her lips as she responded to the passion wrapping her legs around his waist pressing her heels against the small of his back even as she sinuously pulled herself up and against him.  
  
He spun about tumbling against the large bed with his giggling partner underneath him.  
  
Nothing was said for a long while but the soft moans, whispered urgings, and muffled screams from the couple in the oversized bed.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Naru Hiragushi paced with unexpected nervousness. Normally she was the calm, even-minded, practical one. Now the role was usurped by her son and father-in-law.  
  
"Mom, calm down!" Souta shifted feeling awkward in his a hakama and haori. "Mahasaki-san is just here for a visit."  
  
"I know, I know, I just want to make sure he is pleased with everything."  
  
"Naru, don't be a silly feather-head, anyone can see you have done a wonderful job managing and maintaining the shrine." Sano Hiragushi rumbled as he smoothened his formal priest robes. "Now sit down!"  
  
Naru sighed and sat down.  
  
"Good. Now, tell us what do you know about this Kaimaru Mahasaki?"  
  
Naru shrugged. "Not much. He is a wealthy and influential businessman. He owns majority share of Taishio Enterprises." Two pairs of male eyes widened in awe when she named the huge conglomerate with divisions in entertainment, manufacturing, textiles, pharmaceuticals and electronics.  
  
"Cool!" That was the only word Souta felt was suitable to sum up the situation.  
  
Naru smiled. "Yes, cool. I have never met Mahasaki-san personally of course but he is a very personable correspondent. I have often invited him to join us during the festival celebrations but he often refused. This is the first time he showed an interest in visiting the shrine personally."  
  
Souta frowned. "No one knows what the owner of Taishio Enterprises looks like Okaa-san. He is very fanatical about his privacy. His employees are also very loyal to him. There were rumors about his affairs and some lady claiming she was pregnant with his kid but his lawyers proved she lied. His PR department made an official statement saying he was happily married and did not appreciate such false paternity claims."  
  
Naru blinked. "That is nice dear. Does he have any children?"  
  
Souta shrugged. "No one knows. Well, if they do, they aren't saying."  
  
Naru hmmmed thoughtfully as she fingered the edge of her navy blue kimono edged with white sakura flowers over a sky-blue inner gown.  
  
Souta's ears perked up and he dashed towards the window. Brown eyes widened.  
  
"Okaa-san, there is a black limo pulling in! It has three doors! There are two jeeps behind it! It must be Mahasaki-san!"  
  
That was enough to get the three Hiragushi outside to catch the earliest possible glimpse of their mysterious patron.  
  
Souta was dancing from foot to foot impatiently as the driver and passenger of the limo got out with one of the jeeps passengers. They were obviously employees dressed in subduded suits. Their protective stances, ear-pieces and shades indicated they were body guards or security personnel.  
  
After making sure the area was secure they opened the passenger doors of the jeeps and limo allowing a flood of adults, teenagers, children and toddlers. After some consulting they arranged themselves into two groups around the occupants that emerged from the limo. The Hiragushis could not help but feel unnerved by the intensity of the many pairs of eyes studying them with barely repressed excitement.  
  
A tall exotically beautiful man with a mane of waist-long platinum blonde hair restrained in a silver clasp. An athletic lean-hipped form clad in a tailored wool-silk blend rust suit of such fit and restrained elegance Naru Hiragushi it must have cost more than an entire year's salary for her. He wore a pair of slim rose colored shades that simply emphasized the delicate feminine bone structure though no one could deny he was a man with his lithe swimmers build. He moved gracefully, with precision, without waste or concern, for anyone but the companion he helped exit the limo.  
  
A pair of slim long legs shod in black stiletto sandals. A petite but shapely form dressed in a peacock blue silk and black lace suit gilded by gold buttons. No one could see much of the pale face that was hidden behind the veil and wide brim of the black hat.   
  
The lady moved silently and to the back of the man who stepped to the front. Naru Hiragushi could see his eyes were light amber-brown, almost glowing gold in their intensity.  
  
"Hiragushi-san?"  
  
Naru gathered her composure.  
  
"Yes, I am Naru Hiragushi. This is my father-in-law Sano Hiragushi. And my son, Souta Hiragushi." She indicated each person in question. "Please call me Naru."  
  
The stranger inclined his head.  
  
"I am pleased to finally meet you in person Naru-san. My name is Kaimaru Mahasaki."  
  
Naru smiled and shook his hand with a warm but hesitant smile.  
  
"I am pleased to finally meet you as well Mahasaki-san. Though I am curious as to the reason for your visit after so many years."  
  
A slight pause before the blonde man began speaking.  
  
"It is a long and complicated story Naru-san. It has to do with your daughter Kagome--."  
  
Brown eyes widened with urgent fear and concern.  
  
"You know about Kagome? Is she all right? I truly believe she decided to remain and had a long life in the past. Did she leave a message with your clan?"  
  
Mahasaki started at this outpouring of confidence. He hesitated before speaking.  
  
"In a manner of speaking yes. Kagome met someone she cared for deeply in the past and chose to stay with him. They had several children and grand-children. The people you see before you," He waved at the people behind him. "Are your descendents, in a sense."  
  
Naru Hiragushi's heart was filled with joy and grief. Happiness her instincts were confirmed, her little girl met someone she loved in the past and had a family. Grief that Kagome would never be returning again, that Kagome had died in the past. Yes, she had a long and fruitful life but she would never be returning home again.  
  
Doe brown eyes moistened with tears. She brushed them away.  
  
"It is so nice to have my feelings confirmed. Are you a great grand-son?"  
  
Streaks of red stained the high cheekbones.  
  
"No."  
  
Naru was confused. "Oh."  
  
"Oh, give it up Maru," a soft husky female voice interrupted. The peacock lady stepped forward carrying a blanket wrapped bundle Naru did not notice before. One slim hand flipped the veil up to reveal a pair of blue eyes swimming in tears before she hesitantly rearranged the blankets in her arm to reveal the round head of a small form, a baby. The small fragile head was covered with wisps of black curls. The tiny form squirmed and stretched and yawmed. Big golden eyes blinked up at Naru awakening her natural nurturing instincts to cuddle and coo.  
  
"Okaa-san, I know I'm really late but I have a good excuse." Blue eyes begged for understanding and forgiveness. "This is Amaya, she was born six weeks ago. She is my youngest pup. You are a grand-mother six times over and a great grand-mother to five."  
  
Brown eyes widened before Naru embraced the blue-eyed lady fiercely.  
  
"Kagome! How is this possible? I mean, you are here but you didn't use the Bone-Eaters Well, did you?" The last question was spoken accusingly.  
  
Kagome shook her head with a shy smile as she allowed her mother to take the baby and coo over the tiny form.  
  
"No. I'm more than five hundred years old."  
  
Naru was confused. "But how? You should be dead, not having a baby!"  
  
Kagome shrugged. "Part of it is from being the Protector of the Shikon no Tama. The rest comes from being a tai-youkai's mate."  
  
"What?!" Triple echo.  
  
Kagome wrapped her arm around Kaimaru Mahasaki's waist as she wriggled into his embrace under one arm. One small hand patted the soft rust material of the suit over his sternum as she smiled impishly ignoring his patent discomfort.  
  
"Okaa-san, this is Sesshoumaru, he is InuYasha's elder brother, and my husband."  
  
Naru looked over the people in the yard.  
  
"And what about the rest?"  
  
Kagome blushed before answering.  
  
"Our children and grandchildren. Youkai mature at different rates than humans." She explained mumbling.  
  
"Wow." Souta was awed. "This is so cool. I'm an uncle and a grand uncle and they are all older than me!"  
  
"Souta!" Naru cuffed her son torn between laughter and horror before giving into laughter. "Oh, what the heck! He's right!" She handed the baby she carried to the teenage boy. "Here, hold your niece while I give your sister and brother-in-law a proper hug."  
  
Laughter and hurried introductions and conversations filled the air of the Hiragushi Shrine as one family met a distant branch that had thrived despite being separated by time, convention, and blood.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The End.  
  
===========================================================  
  
AN: So. What do you think? I hope you enjoyed the story so...  
  
Please review, no flames though...  
  
--Sarhea 


End file.
